Parents of missing postal worker want police to do more

Karen Phillips and Joseph Coles speak at a news conference at Daley Plaza about their daughter, postal worker Kierra Coles, who has been missing for 21 months. | Max Herman/Sun-Times

Almost two years after his pregnant daughter was reported missing, Joseph Coles said Friday it feels like investigators no longer care about her whereabouts.

“No one is helping us,” the 54-year-old Wisconsin man said.

Kierra Coles, then 26 and three months pregnant, was a U.S. Postal Service employee who was reported missing Oct. 2, 2018. She was last seen near 81st Street and Vernon Avenue, her family says.

Joseph Coles and the young woman’s mother, Karen Phillips, gathered with a dozen or so supporters at Daley Plaza to try to drum up interest in their daughter’s case.

Coles said he had been in frequent contact with the FBI but for the past two months no one in that office has returned his calls.

“They keep telling me they are watching these people and they’ve got these people under surveillance, but they’re not filling me in on nothing,” Coles said.

Kierra Coles

Kellie Bartoli, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department, said Friday the case is currently “suspended.”

“It is not a permanent status, and it can be changed if more information is made available,” Bartoli said in an email.

The case is a joint investigation of CPD, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Anyone with information is asked to call Chicago police at 312-747-8276 or email cpdtip.com.

Coles is described as 5-foot-4, Black, with brown eyes with a medium complexion. She has a tattoo of a heart on her right hand and one that reads “lucky Libra” on her back.

Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef wears a shirt at a news conference in support of finding postal worker Kierra Coles, who has been missing for 21 months on July 17, 2020.