Vanished into Thin Air: The Disappearance of Asia Wilbon

**Information is obtained from the Where Are They? Podcast and other online sources as cited**

As a child, Asia Wilbon would walk into the room with such a bright, cheeky smile and cute dimples, that it was hard not to notice her.

Asia was an introvert, and she became a teenager, she became a homebody and loved to stay in the comforts of her room and her own home.

In February 2020, at just 16 years old, Asia was struggling to cope with the death of her biological mother. Asia had moved from her home in North Carolina, to live with her father in Kent, Washington.

Asia left her house on the evening of February 12, 2020. Her family believed that she just wanted to go for a walk and ‘clear her head’. The next morning, her father and stepmom left for work as usual. They believed Asia had headed off to school. When they returned home from work that day, Asia was nowhere to be found.

They reported her missing on that day.

Asia Wilbon has not been seen or heard from since.

Where is Asia Wilbon?

Asia Wilbon (Photo Cred: Truecasefiles.com)

The disappearance of 16-year-old Asia Wilbon is as baffling as any. In many ways, Asia’s story reminds me of the Asha Degree case from Shelby, North Carolina. Asha vanished when she was just 9 years old, but her disappearance stunned everyone. A well-behaved, 9-year-old kid, who was close with her family, loved playing basketball and going to church, and seemed- at least on the outside- to have a happy home life. Then one rainy night, Asha walked out of her house and was never seen again.

Photo Credit: FBI.gov

Of course, Asia, at 16 years old, probably has a lot more going in her life than that of a 9-year-old. And we know at least one thing about Asia at that time- her biological mother, who lived on the opposite coast as she did, had recently passed away. The family said that had affected Asia a little bit, and she had been a little depressed.

In February 2020, Asia lived with her father in the West Hill area of Kent, Washington. Kent, Washington is located about 20 miles south of Seattle, roughly a 30-minute drive.

Their neighborhood, West Hill, was on the West side of Kent. Kent, in particular, is a decent-sized city, with a population of 132,000. Kent is considered Washington’s 6th largest city. It is generally divided into three areas: West Hill (mixed residential and commercial), Valley (primarily industrial and commercial), and East Hill (primarily residential with retail).

Asia, even at age 16, was a homebody. She spent a lot of time in her room. This was Asia’s personality even before her mother passed away.

Her dad would say that many times she would agree to go out with family or friends somewhere but would change her mind at the last minute. She had anxiety around groups of people and just preferred to stay home.

On Wednesday, February 12, Asia’s dad got home from work and saw Asia as normal. Sometimes during the night, he heard Asia up and moving about in the house. He didn’t think anything of it.

On Thursday, February 13, he and his wife got up and went to work as normal, believing Asia had left for school. When he came home from work that day, and Asia was still not home, both her dad and step-mom had an eerie feeling. Asia was always at home. They start calling her cell phone, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Asia’s stepmom said she believed Asia had gone out for a walk on the night of the 12th but had assumed she had come back home.

Now, before we rush to judgment on the parents, I want to emphasize that there aren’t a lot of public details on this case and what exactly happened. And, Asia was a teenager. At 16 years old, she is certainly capable of going out for a walk if that’s what she wants to do.

On February 13, her father reports her missing, and authorities start looking for her. Immediately, her father, stepmom, and extended family make flyers and start hitting the streets to hang them up and pass them out to anyone and everyone.

The Kent Police did receive multiple tips but were unable to verify anything at first.

The Kent Police Department also works to ping her phone and finds the last known ping to have registered at 1:35 p.m. on February 13th near the area of Federal Way.

Now Federal Way is a city located southwest of Kent, and also in King County. Her family is unsure why or how she might have gotten there.

Federal Way Transit Station (Photo Credit: Hewittseattle.com)

On February 15th, a tip comes to police with a possible sighting of Asia- in Federal Way. Specifically the Federal Way Transit Station. The station is primarily a bus station, but a fairly large one. From what I can tell, there were plans to expand to a rail system, but not sure if that has happened.

Investigators didn’t turn up any new leads after that reported sighting, but they feel that it might have been credible.

And that leads me to wonder if maybe Asia wanted to find her way back to the East Coast. Back to North Carolina, where she had lived before her mother passed away? This is never really talked about in any news reports, but I can’t help but wonder- a teenager, who recently lost her mother, and had moved across the country, very possibly wanted to get back to what she knew, back to her friends. But, since that isn’t mentioned anywhere, I have to say that is just my thought.

Police continue to receive tips, but with very little to go on, the case quickly goes cold with no sign of Asia anywhere.

In June of this year, Washington State Police announced that Asia’s case was going to be part of the Homeward Bound program. The Homeward Bound program is a partnership between Kam-Way Transportation and the State Patrol. The trucks will be outfitted as moving billboards displaying cases of missing persons.

Photo Credit: Kentreporter.com

I just love this program and what they are doing for missing children. Here’s an excerpt from Kam-Way Transportation webpage about the Homeward Bound program:

Homeward Bound is a Washington State Patrol push to raise public awareness about missing children and bring light to their cases. We share a common goal of bringing renewed hope to their families.

Homeward Bound began in 2005 with late Trooper Renee Padgett. Gordon Trucking unveiled the first trailer in 2006. Unfortunately, Gordon Trucking was bought out in 2013 and Trooper Padgett passed away in 2018 after over six years battling with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the white blood cells. This brought a halt to the program.

Fast forward to January 2019, after our team member Laurie Glavin sought out approval from her supervisors and contacted the WSP, we unveiled the first set of two trailers featuring missing person Teekah Lewis. We have since unveiled four more trailers featuring missing persons Misty Copsey and Alyssa McLemore. By the end of 2019, we will have a total of 11 trailers on the road featuring five missing persons.

Asia is now displayed on two different Kam-Way trucks that travel coast to coast.

You might remember I covered the case of little 2-year-old Teekah Lewis back in December of last year. Teekah vanished suddenly from a busy bowling alley in Tacoma, Washington That case sticks with me to this day. What really baffles me, is how that case hasn’t been covered more in the media. She was TWO years old and her disappearance was very suspicious, and possibly very scary as there were other abduction attempts during that time frame. Teekah Lewis was also featured on one of the Homeward Bound trucks, and I commend that program and the company for helping get the word out on these cases.

Asia Wilbon left her home in Kent, Washington, walked out into the darkness, and was never seen again. And we don’t have much to go on. At all. Besides her family and her aunt, we haven’t heard from any other friends, or even friends and family that knew her during her time on the East Coast. Because of that, we don’t know much about her personal life. We’ve only learned that Asia was a girl who preferred staying home to going out with friends. At least that’s what her father says- but I do wonder if she acted that way because she was maybe depressed over the loss of her mother. I wonder if she was also that way when she lived with her mother. No one has come out to say.

Regardless, that isn’t much to go on.

So what kind of theories do we have in this case?

Theory #1: Asia ran away back to North Carolina. Maybe something was going on in Washington, and she felt she wasn’t fitting in. At the time of her disappearance, she was 16- that can be a tough age to acclimate to a new area, new friends, new school….. Perhaps Asia just wanted to go back to where she knew?

I do have questions on this, however- such as why has Asia not been spotted since? Why has she not come forward almost 20 months later?

And that leads me to Theory #2: Could Asia have run away hoping to get back to the East Coast, but something happened to her along the way? Was there foul play involved? I think it’s possible, but what are the chances she just happens to run into a killer? Or an abductor? Or something else…I mean, it happens. And Asia could have been seen as a target. It seemed she didn’t take any belongings and didn’t have much (if any) cash on her.

Theory #3: Was there someone in Asia’s life we- the public- aren’t aware of? Such as, maybe she did have some Washington friends who were involved in some bad stuff. Or, maybe something was going on in her online activity. I do wonder about this, seeing as Asia was described as an introvert. Did she have communications with someone else- or someone- during all that time she would hole up in her bedroom?

Makes me wonder if they searched her internet activity on any devices in the home. I do think this is also a very possible theory. She could have made plans to meet up with someone and that is why she headed out at night, so she didn’t have to answer any questions, and made her way to the Federal Way station. I don’t have the exact address where Asia was living with her dad, but I do know it was in the West Hill area of Kent. A quick map search shows that is about 5–6 miles away from the Federal Way Transit Station. Walkable.

Someone could have helped her make travel plans, and at 16, I’m sure she could’ve made her way to the station and hopped on the bus on her own with no trouble. And no one would think twice about seeing her do this.

Asia Wilbon has been missing for a year and a half now.

Asia is described as a black female, 5'2", and weighed about 135 pounds when she disappeared last year.

If you know anything about the whereabouts of Asia, or have any information at all regarding her case, please call the Kent Police Tip Line at (253)856–5808 and reference Kent Case number 20–2105.

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