Pregnant 12 year old missing for 27 years: Celina Mays

Welcome to the Eastern Crime Zone, the podcast that takes you inside investigations of real, true crime cases. I'm your host, cassie Malay, and each week I'll guide you through the twists and turns of some of the most fascinating cases in history, from the familiar to the obscure. We'll deep dive into the details and explore new angles you've ever considered before. But I don't want this to be a one-sided conversation. I want to hear from you too. So if there's a case that's been on your mind, head on over to EasternCrimeZonecom and leave me a voicemail, or slide into my DMs on Instagram at EasternCrimeZone. Who knows, this suggestion might be featured on an upcoming episode. So sit back, grab your detective hat and get ready through a journey through the criminal underworld. This is the Eastern Crime Zone. On Sunday, december 15th in Willingboro, new Jersey, 12-year-old Selena Mays was at home preparing for bed and spending what we now know are her last moments on record. Just that day she had attended church, had ice cream with her family, kissed everyone good night and then went to bed around 11pm. By the time her little sister came in in the morning to wake Selena up for breakfast, selena was gone. In her place were pillows underneath her bedspread to make it look like she had still been sleeping. We are here today to talk about what could have happened to Selena, where she could be, maybe today, or if she was taken and her life ended in December of 1996, who could be responsible and why? Selena Jeanette Mays was born on May 28th 1984 in Miami, florida, to her parents Crizzanzo CJ Mays and her mother Lynn Vitale. Two years after Selena was born, in 1986, they relocated to Palmyra, new Jersey, to start fresh. Selena's life was complicated from the very beginning. Her father, cj, had a drug and alcohol problem and he had a record of domestic violence, and her mother, lynn, was an exotic dancer who also had a drug addiction. According to sources, there have been some domestic violence incidents between both of her parents while Selena was in the home. Though they were never married, her parents did end up separating and they went through a tumultuous custody battle, leaving Lynn to be a single mother raising her daughter on her own. Eventually, lynn got herself sober and found a job, working as a school custodian in Palmyra. Things were going really well for her and Selena. Lynn was working and providing and Selena was doing well in school and made friends in the process. Cj ended up relocating just nine miles away to move in with relatives in Willingboro, new Jersey. Cj became a radical Christian under his sister Reverend Serita Smith's church, the Gospel of Christ Ministries. Cj dedicated most of his time to the church by working as the accountant and committed member of the congregation. Lynn did not allow CJ any access to Selena, but we don't know exactly why Lynn restricted CJ's access to Selena. Cj has alluded to the family not being accepting of him because he was black, but others have alluded to it being his involvement with his church. We don't know the real reason because unfortunately Lynn is not here to tell us herself why she restricted his access. Because just eight years after moving to New Jersey, lynn died of an aneurysm in 1994, while Selena was only 10 years old. After her mother passed away, selena lived with her maternal relatives. Selena had deal with being passed back and forth between her father, his family and her mother's family, while there was another custody battle to decide who she would live with. Cj told the courts that he became sober, with no more domestic violence incidents, drug or alcohol addiction. He had gotten married and he had found religion at the Gospel of Christ Ministries in Mount Holly, new Jersey, and he became a better, more fit parent. So CJ did end up winning the battle and gaining full custody of Selena. Selena then ended up moving into the communal family home with CJ, several of his family members and some church family members. There were lots of people living in this house. On the episode of In Pursuit with John Walsh that I watched, I think it was said that there were up to 20 people living in the home at one time. Now there are a lot of people who lived in this house, but the most important ones are CJ, his wife, yvette, their daughter together, nori and Selena. So Selena has a half sister, her father and a stepmother, and then CJ's sister also lives in the home. It is her home and her name is Sarita Smith. Sarita had her husband and her adult son living with them as well, so these were the core members that are going to become important in today's case. Also, we had a girl named Tawana who lived in the house, who was 17 at the time. There were other people coming and going, but these are the core people involved. So for simplicity, I will only be mentioning them and I'll try to remind you as we go who everyone is, just since there are a few different names going on. Cj pulled Selena out of the New Jersey public school system and transitioned her to be homeschooled at the church, focusing heavily on the teachings of the church religion and limiting her social interactions with people who weren't church members. Gospel of Christ Ministries is a small Pentecostal church located in Mount Holly, new Jersey, and at the time was led by Reverend Sarita Smith, who is Selena's paternal aunt and CJ's sister. The church was every Sunday and it was an all-day experience. You'd be there for five to six hours at a time. The congregation consisted of about 50 to 60 devoted members that were mainly families and everyone was somehow connected. The church was very tight-knit and was described as a closed church. Most of the members not only worshiped at the church but also worked there or supported the congregation financially. They would be instructed to only attend the church, they would be instructed to only socialize with other members of the church and their children were homeschooled there. Everything that went on in the lives of the members inside and outside of the church doors Reverend Sarita Mays had to have knowledge of it and it required consent from her. Sarita spearheaded the entire congregation and her family and they did not do anything. She did not want them to. Family members of members of the church were going there physically to try to remove their loved ones. There was a lot of controversy, where past members would recall the church was isolated and very cult-like due to Sarita's brainwashing technique she would use on her congregation. The congregation was adults and children and they lived and breathed the gospel of Christ ministries. With that, selena lived an incredibly sheltered life where she had very little to no access to non-members or the world in general. This lifestyle was an adjustment for Selena because it was very different from how she lived her life with her mother, lynn. Selena would become close with one of the female members that was somewhat close to her age, tawana, who I mentioned earlier. Tawana was about five years older than Selena because Selena was 12 and Tawana was 17. But she was a member of the church through her mother and her mother was going through a difficult period in her life. She confided in Sarita and Sarita opened an invitation for Tawana to stay with them at the Crestview house. Tawana and Selena were typically placed in the same group when they would do fundraisers at the church. According to Messenger Press, the girls, along with other members, would go to local stores and sell soft pretzels, pies, cakes and Mary Kay products. This is how members supported the church financially and provided aid to those in their community. According to CJ, members were told that giving money to the church is based on morality. Was some donating their life savings? Oftentimes members would be on their designated sites for fundraisers from 8 am to 1 am soliciting for sales. Selena started her menstrual cycle around the fall of 1995, and at that point Tawana would check in with her younger friend to make sure she had all of her feminine hygiene products to take care of herself during that time of the month. In May of 1996, tawana asked if Selena needed any products and Selena told her no. Tawana asked again sometime later and Selena again said no. And then Selena would confide in Tawana that she thought she may be pregnant. The information that she shared with her at the time was very alarming. She said that her cousin, 21-year-old Sean Smith, sarita's son, had gotten her pregnant. Sean at the time was a self-employed music producer and also worked at a local security company. Because of his possible connections that he had, he had promised Selena autographed tickets to her favorite artist in exchange for sexual favors. This is rape, no matter what? Because he was 21, manipulating a 12-year-old to perform sexual acts with him. Tawana, hearing this, was not surprised, because she also had been sexually assaulted by Sean starting in age 13, and he had even made her get an abortion. Tawana went into great detail about how Sean would enter into the room at night and take advantage of her. Tawana never told the soul because she was afraid of being publicly shamed in front of the church, despite Sean being a predator. In the episode of In Pursuit with John Walsh, I believe it was Nori who described the public shaming that they would experience if they ever did anything that Sarita branded as being wrong or something that she just didn't want them to do. They would be forced to stand at the bottom of the stairs and she would stand above them at the top of the stairs, pointing down at them and yelling at them within view of the whole congregation. She would physically put herself above the other person and demean them for hours. On Thursday, january 29th 1998, well after Selena had already gone missing, sean was arrested on sexual assault charges. He sexually assaulted two girls starting at ages 13 and 14. The first victim he assaulted from 1992 to 1994, and the second victim was from 1993 to 1995. In the midst of this he fathered five children by four different mothers, most, if not all, being members of his church. I hope it's not confusing that I jumped forward to let you know about Sean's later arrests. I just wanted to get it out there Early on that. We know Sean is a predator. He was convicted on two different charges for assaulting minors. So if Selena really did tell Tawana these things, which I do believe she did, and Tawana is telling the truth about her being assaulted, which I also believe is true, then it's very possible that Sean could have been the father of Selena's baby. Selena's family noticed her growing belly and took her to a clinic to take a pregnancy test. This test was given under a different name to conceal her identity and it came back positive. Selena, a 12-year-old child, was carrying a child. It's been said that Selena did tell her family that it was Sean who had assaulted her, but Sean denied it. Of course Sean had been married, but prior to his marriage he had a child with two other women who were members of the church while Selena was pregnant, as well as another unidentified person in the Crestview home. As the months went on, selena continued attending doctors' appointments and took prenatal vitamins. She was even choosing baby names, and she was also given a diaper bag that she loved and she hid it to avoid her housemates and family from seeing it. Despite all of this, her family refused to buy her clothes that would fit her growing figure. It seems as though her family cared more about shunning her instead of who did this to her and supporting her during this very difficult time. Being pregnant is difficult when you are a grown woman with support, let alone being a child and being pregnant with no support. Selena's obstetrician tried to find out who the father of her baby was, but she always told the obstetrician that he was 16 and not a member of the church. Her family claims that Selena told them that the boy was someone she met at a Camden skating rink when they went in the past, which is the same story that was communicated to the media later and amongst the congregation. I don't believe it's possible that Selena could have met a 16-year-old at a skating rink and gotten pregnant with him. Selena was under strict rules, with a limited social life than what she had been used to when she lived with her mother Lynn. It was going home, going to school at church and then staying at church for the services. She only really went to those two places unless she was doing fundraising activities, also for the church. It makes much more sense to me that Sean was the one who had assaulted her and gotten her pregnant than it does that she was allowed access to a 16-year-old at a skating rink. That's not in line with what I read about her lifestyle or the lifestyle of anyone in the congregation. They were told not to go anywhere outside of Sarita's watchful eyes. They were also told not to communicate with outside members, and she was never left unattended unless it was with a member of the church. So she would not have been left alone with a 16-year-old at a skating rink in Camden. In my opinion, the 16-year-old at the skating rink story was a lie made up by either Selena or an adult close to Selena to hide what Sean had done to her. The family claims that they did everything to try to find out who the father of Selena's child was, but she would always claim it was this 16-year-old boy, who was not a member of the church, that she met at the skating rink, and she would never provide any other information than that CJ at one point was looked at for being the father of her child, but he proved with medical documents he had a vasectomy a few years prior. Cj informed law enforcement that he had told Selena, once her baby was born, that he would get a blood test to reveal the true identity of her father, and this really upset Selena. On Sunday, december 15th 1996, selena and her family all attended church service in the morning and into the afternoon. Church services would last five to six hours at a time. Oddly, that evening service was cancelled, which was very unusual. Services were almost never cancelled. The family came home after church, ate dinner and had ice cream for dessert. Selena kissed everyone goodnight, said thanks for everything and went upstairs to go to bed around 11. Sometime that evening she'd also spoken with her half-brother on the phone, suspecting that something was wrong. He asked her to press a button if she was unhappy living with her father, and he heard a button being pressed on the phone. He could also hear Selena's father, cj, in the background yelling at her to get off of the phone, and this was the last time anyone has spoken to Selena on record. The next morning, monday December 16th, yvette, selena's stepmother and CJ's wife, had started making breakfast she instructed Nori, who was Selena's younger sister, to go upstairs and wake her sister up for breakfast. When she went upstairs to Selena's bedroom she opened the door and yelled at her to come eat breakfast. But Selena did not come downstairs. Yvette asked Nori to go back up and get her. Nori goes back upstairs to get Selena and she still doesn't answer when she calls for her. So she goes up and pulls back the covers and sees pillows that were made to look like a body and no Selena. Nori goes back down and informs her mother she's not in her room. Yvette then calls CJ, who's at the church in Mount Holly, and lets him know that Selena is not in her room and ask if she is with him. At this time no one reports 12-year-old Selena missing. Until the next day, tuesday, cj goes to the police station and reports his daughter missing in person, which police noted in the episode of In Pursuit with John Walsh that they thought this was odd that he came in person rather than called them to the house. When he was at the police station he said his daughter's disappearance was in God's hands. What he did not mention was that Selena was not only missing, but she was nine months pregnant. This was not mentioned until days into the search for Selena. Norrie recalls Selena not being talked about or mentioned much after her disappearance. When Norrie was eight years old, she said she would ask questions about her sister and never received any real answers. There were even some opportunities to speak with the media, but Sarita denied them access. She does remember telling her at that age that the reason Selena was not there was because Selena slept around, got pregnant and ran away. Law enforcement did search and there was significant news coverage on her disappearance, but it turned up nothing. Hospitals were checked to see if anyone who fits Selena's description was admitted, and that also turned up nothing. The search was not in depth as it should have been and there were two vital areas that were not properly searched the house that Selena lived in and the church. There was some talk that there was no search because Sarita would not allow it and would not allow her congregation to speak to law enforcement. Sean was eventually questioned and swore that he did not have anything at all to do with Selena's disappearance. Selena's case, according to CJ, is all about Selena running out of fear, with the focal point being the child's father. He felt that Selena decided to run off by herself or with someone to avoid the true identity of the baby's father being exposed. Good old Aunt Sarita was more concerned about the reputation of her church than finding Selena. There are quotes from Sarita that she said on her pulpit during a service after Selena went missing. 12 years old is just a number. Sarita said Some 12-year-old make you think they're 18 years old. Also during her service she mentioned I have no fear what God has chosen and I don't fear where Selena is. Sarita also would publicly mention how Selena was a liar throughout her entire pregnancy and how evil and perverse Selena's generation was, which. All of these things are very, very strange, and when you put them together with a missing pregnant child who may have been molested and impregnated by your son, it makes a lot more sense why Sarita would be saying these things. Selena's due date was set for December 29, 1996 and she would have required a C-section because at 12 years old her pelvis would be too small to birth a baby. She most likely would not have been able to have a birth without medical intervention. If she ran off on her own then she couldn't have gotten very far because she had no money, was nine months pregnant and couldn't drive, and no hospitals in the area had seen Selena. Selena has two younger sisters who didn't have the opportunity to truly get to know her, and both of her sisters have spoken out to attempt to locate her. She also has an older half-brother who has also spoken out and shared his experiences and how much he misses her. They want to know what happened. Although Selena's disappearance has several aspects that could indicate she left voluntarily, like the pillows under her bedspread, and it was mentioned that she had thanked everyone for everything when she went to bed the night before. In my opinion, that could be her thanking them for the day that they had together, because they did get ice cream. So she could have been thanking them for everything in that way instead of for everything as in her life, and she's going to dip now. I think that's absolutely a stretch saying that that's an indication that she ran away. Something bad might have happened between her and Shawn, because once the baby was born, it was going to be a lot harder to hide the abuse that had gone on, especially if CJ didn't know about it and he was serious about getting a DNA test. I think the situation she was in has a lot of indicators that she could have met up with foul play, especially because she lived with her abuser. Her abuser had plenty of people around to hide him and shelter him. The house was never searched. The church was never searched. I don't understand why more wasn't done. There was media coverage I found plenty of articles on newspapercom and everything like that, but the police weren't able to get a search warrant and they weren't allowed access to the home, which in itself says a lot to me that the family was not cooperative. So that brings us to today. Unfortunately, selena's family is still looking for her. They want answers. Her father has since passed away, and so did her aunt Serita and cousin Sean, so I believe a lot of answers may have died with those individuals. I will go ahead and put her picture up, so please take a look. If you're on YouTube, it'll be on the screen, and if you're on audio, you can check it out. In the show notes I will list the National Center for Missing Exploited Children. I will list their page where you can see her photo. There is an age progression photo and a photo of her at the time she went missing. Unfortunately, that's all the evidence I have to go over with you for her case today. Covering unsolved cases is a little bit harder because we don't have a conclusion to go over. We also don't know who did this or why, so there's a lot of gaps missing. But unsolved cases are really important to talk about. It's important to keep Selena in mind and just take a look at our picture and see if it's someone that you recognize. It takes five seconds and if you do recognize her, then a family can maybe have some closure. I apologize if you're watching on YouTube and you have to see how absolutely tired I look. I got up technically yesterday morning at five o'clock and it is now two o'clock in the morning, so I'm looking rough and I'm feeling rough. So I'm gonna go ahead and go to bed and let editing Cassie figure this mess out tomorrow. So next week I will see you with a different case. So until then, remember to stay safe and question everything. ["selena At Number A"].