Body Recovered From Ohio's Scioto River Identified as Missing Social Justice Advocate, Amber Evans
The body of a young woman recovered from the Scioto River in Ohio on Saturday has been identified as 28-year-old community activist Amber Evans by Columbus Police. She had been missing since Jan. 28.
Evans was a well-known community activist in the city, working with a variety of social justice organizations.
Since 2015, she had worked with Juvenile Justice Coalition; she was promoted to executive director weeks before her disappearance.
Evans played a key role in organizing protests at Columbus City Hall; she was also “heavily involved” with the People’s Justice Project, a nonprofit dedicated to organizing working people and people of color across Columbus.
She was reported missing in late January, following a domestic dispute with her boyfriend of 10 years, police say. Amber went to work the morning of Jan. 28; she left following a 5:30 p.m. meeting after telling her coworkers she wasn’t feeling well. She was last seen in security footage at a local store, where she bought cold medicine and a Snickers bar.
Police found Evans’ abandoned car later that evening in the Scioto Mile area in Downtown Columbus with her purse in the trunk; her phone was found on another part of the Scioto Mile the next day.
Two days before Evans went missing, Fischer said she spoke with her daughter on the phone about her plans for the next 20 years.
“I said, ‘Amber, tell me what your life is going to be — your 30 and 40-year-old life — and how that looks for you.’” Fischer said, recounting the conversation for NBC News’ “Dateline.”
She says her daughter told her, “Mom, I want to go back to Paris and teach the children English again.” Evans had worked and studied in the French capital; Fischer said it was the happiest her daughter had been.
It was the last conversation she would have with her daughter.
National social justice network “Showing Up for Racial Justice” released a statement Sunday responding to the news of Evans’ death. Excerpts of the statement were published by Columbus’ local ABC affiliate.
“Anyone who knew Amber knows that she was extremely disciplined and dedicated to struggling for a better world,” wrote lead organizer Tynan Krakoff. “She treated everyone with dignity and when you spoke, it always felt like she truly was listening. She was a fighter and we will continue her legacy.”
Sandra Bland 2015
Marshawn McCarrel 2016
Darren Seals 2017
Edward Crawford 2017
Erica Garner 2017
Muhiyidin Moye 2018
Danye Jones 2018
Bassem Masri 2018
Amber Evans 2019
Prayers for Amber Evans’ family and community.
