Community rallies to support family as probe continues into missing Erie man's whereabouts

Dijone Redd is missed.

His mother, Stephanie Porter Easterling, said she feels the absence daily as she thinks of the "kindhearted, goofy person" she would joke with and recite scripture with. She said she also sees it in the pain in the eyes of Redd's six children when answers to their father's whereabouts can't come.

It's a difficult thing not knowing where your child is, said Porter Easterling, who admits to chasing down people she sees who resemble the tall young man, and feeling empty when realizing that person is not her son.

"But I'm not going to give up hope because I'm going to keep trusting God. No matter what, he has the last say. But I miss my child," she said.

Dijone Redd, who turned 31 in January, was last seen in Erie on Sept. 6. He was reported missing to Erie police in early October, launching an investigation that, to date, has not unearthed any clues to his whereabouts.

Members of the Erie community were invited to gather on Friday afternoon to pray for Redd and his family.

The 1 p.m. gathering at the Erie Center for Arts and Technology, in the old Wayne School building at East Sixth Street and East Avenue, will hopefully show members of Redd's family that the community supports them and are behind them as they wait for answers in their loved one's disappearance, said Daryl Craig, a community leader and a member of the Erie Blue Coats.

"We made some noise today on behalf of this family, showed (Redd's mother) she is not alone. We were able to stand together with her in her time of need, and it didn't cost anything, just a few minutes of time," Craig said of his goal for Friday's gathering.

While the community prays for Redd and his family, Erie police continue their quest for answers in Redd's disappearance.

An unsolved mystery

Porter Easterling said she last saw her son on Sept. 4. She had picked him up from the hospital, and they sat outside her home, "joking and stuff" at a picnic table before he went to the store and she didn't see him again, Porter Easterling said.

The last reported sighting of Redd was on Sept. 6. He was last seen in the area of West 17th and Liberty streets with some friends, according to Erie police Detective Jason Russell, who is handling the missing persons investigation.

Police have interviewed a number of people, including those who were last seen with Redd, Russell said. Police have also searched social media sites including Facebook looking for answers, he said.

Erie police posted information about Redd's disappearance on the department's Facebook page on Oct. 19. Information was also posted on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System website.

Detectives have served search warrants in the investigation and have followed up on a number of leads and tips, the most recent of which was received in late February, Erie police Deputy Chief Rick Lorah said.

Family members and friends have been spreading the word about Redd's disappearance on Facebook, and have posted fliers across the city, Porter Easterling said. She said she has looked in alleyways and anywhere else in Erie where her son might be.

"I just want to know. Whatever it is, I need to know, because it's not like him. It's not like him not to call me," she said.

Search for the missing in Erie

Erie police get a lot of missing persons reports, mainly reports of missing children or runaways, and most of those are quickly cleared when the person is found or returns home, Lorah said.

But some of those reports remain unresolved.

Redd is one of 15 or 16 people reported as missing in Erie to city police since the 1980s whose cases are still open, Lorah said. He said the city police bureau's cold-case investigator, Detective Sgt. Craig Stoker, compiled the list and has been reviewing and following up on each case since Stoker was appointed to the position, which is funded through a state grant, in October 2022.

Through that effort, Stoker was able to clear one missing persons case from three years ago, a girl who was determined to be no longer missing, Lorah said.

Among the most notable missing person cases in Erie that Stoker is working on is the disappearance in 2002 of Sabrina Kahler.

Kahler, who was 20 years old at the time of her disappearance, was last known to have traveled from her Erie home to a location in western Erie County, where she reportedly went swimming with an acquaintance. Police last reported seeing Kahler at an ice cream stand in Springfield Township on June 24, 2002. The acquaintance she was with told police he had dropped Kahler off at the West Erie Plaza in Millcreek Township to see a movie, but investigators said they never found any evidence that Kahler reached that location.

More: Police redouble efforts to solve Erie resident Sabrina Kahler's 21-year-old disappearance

Community comes to family's aid

Friday afternoon's prayer service at the Erie Center for Arts and Technology was organized after a community member inquired about drawing attention to Dijone Redd's disappearance and showing support for his family, Craig said.

Friday's gathering was designed to not only draw attention to Redd's case and to support Redd's family during a difficult time, but to raise awareness about missing persons in Erie and elsewhere, Craig said.

The goal, Craig said, was to show the community that its members can do things for themselves if they come together and can make impacts and changes in the community.

"When one of our community members is suffering, we are all suffering," he said. "We should be able to stand together for most anything."

Dijone Redd loved his children. He loved basketball, God, the scriptures and his mother, Porter Easterling said. She said her son is a loving and selfless person who would do anything for anyone.

"He had is own problems, and stuff that bothered him a lot, but he would run for his children. He loved them," she said.

Porter Easterling said she knows she's not alone in feeling the pain she feels, and her heart goes out to those in Erie and elsewhere who are also looking for missing loved ones.

"My heart is filled with a lot of pain. I don't want anyone to experience what I'm experiencing," she said. "I'm praying for those people. I don't know them, but I know it's not fair. It's a heck of a thing to go through and go through by yourself."

Anyone who has information that could assist Erie police in their ongoing investigation into Dijone Redd's disappearance is asked to call Detective Jason Russell at 814-870-1112.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie to pray as search ongoing for city man missing since September