Amanda Poole - Teen Missing Under Mysterious Circumstances in Memphis, Tennessee

Amanda Poole: Missing Since 2015

Field	Details
Name	Amanda Poole
Date of Last Contact	October 8th, 2015 (Thursday)
Missing From	Memphis, Tennessee
Age at Disappearance	16 Years
Current Age	26 Years
Birthdate Range	October 9th, 1998 - October 8th, 1999
Biological Sex	Female
Race / Ethnicity	Black / African American
Height	5' 7" (67 inches)
Weight	150 lbs
BMI	23.5
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Brown
Circumstances	Left home and hasn't been seen since.
Government Source	NamUs

The Body Mass Index (BMI) of 23.5 falls within the healthy weight range (18.5–24.9), suggesting Amanda Poole had an average, balanced build at the time of her disappearance. This can aid in visualizing her as someone with a proportionate height-to-weight ratio, neither notably thin nor heavy, which may assist in recognizing her in potential sightings or descriptions.

By: Shane Lambert
Original Publication Date: October 9th, 2025

Details of Amanda Poole’s Disappearance

Amanda Poole is teenager who went missing on October 8th, 2015, in Memphis, Tennessee. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and khaki pants (iHeart). She went missing during her morning commute to school. Below, I offer my theory on what happened, which I believe to be an original guess.

Speculation: Amanda Poole’s Disappearance and the Wooded Shortcut Theory

Note: The following is a speculative theory based on available case details, geographic analysis, and urban context of North Memphis in 2015. It is not presented as fact and should be treated as a hypothesis to encourage discussion and tips to aid the investigation.
On October 8th, 2015, 16-year-old Amanda Poole vanished from Memphis while heading from her aunt’s home in the 2300 block of Cliffdale Cove to a presumed MATA bus stop, likely on Hawkins Mill Road, to catch a bus to Trezevant High School. Sources like FOX13 Memphis mention the teens target for a bus stop to get to her school. I believe her target was a Hawkins Mill Road stop, with both University Street and Chattering Lane potential viable routes to reach it. A compelling theory suggests Amanda took a shortcut through a wooded area near a dilapidated house, where she may have been stalked by someone exploiting this neglected area.

The Route to Hawkins Mill Road

The standard route to Hawkins Mill Road is one that forms an inefficient “U”: south on Cliffdale Street to Sharon Lane (0.3 miles), north to Chattering Lane (0.2 miles), then either east on Chattering or north on University to a MATA stop like the one at University/Hawkins Mill (0.3–0.5 miles). This would make for a reasonably short walk totaling 0.8–1 mile.
Green and white bus stop placards appear in Google Maps in modern times and back in 2014, when Google Maps must have driven the area for an update. While nothing exists for 2015, the gap for information in the area can be bridged using the 2014 maps and modern maps to infer what was in the area in 2015. I think Amanda could have taken University Street’s sidewalk for visibility or Chattering Lane’s quieter residential path to reach Hawkins Mill, both practical for catching what I think would have Route 2 toward her high school.
But a local like Amanda might have known a shortcut. Cliffdale Street’s dead end abuts a wooded strip—dense with trees and underbrush. A route through this forested area could offer a local with knowledge of faintly used trails a direct cutoff to Chattering Lane, University Street, or Hawkins Mill Road, potentially cutting 5–10 minutes off a perhaps ill-advised short cut.

Blight and the Broken Windows Theory

Google Maps 2013 imagery shows a rundown house at the north tip of Cliffdale Street's cul-de-sac. It's overgrown and boarded in 2013.

By 2019, the same location in Google Maps looks improved but there is still some boarded windows. There are other houses like this in the area, which can be seen if you take a walk with Google Maps' 2014 update.
Common experience is enough to make a point that I think a lot of urbanites will agree with. Unmaintained homes are an attractant to homeless people, and these people can be clandestine.
For a proper citation grounded in something scholarly, the Broken Windows theory from 1982 (James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling) posited the bad building maintenance was a factor in attracting antisocial behavior and crime.
If there are faint trails through the wooded area at the end of Cliffdale Street, the kind that locals would know best, such a path could be used to bypass the inefficient U-route to the bus stop. Such an area would make a 16-year old female vulnerable to a clandestine transient or stalker, especially in the early hours of the morning.
Amanda’s mother, Tammie Leshure, told reporters she believed her daughter “met the wrong people,” a scenario fitting this setting. A transient or opportunist near the house could have watched the trail, spotting Amanda alone. Perhaps it was a crime of opportunity or someone who

Jesokah Adkens: Missing from Sooke, BC Since Sept 2001

Missing Person: Jesokah Adkens

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): Jesokah was last seen at approximately 21:30 hours. It was thought that she was going to take a transit bus back to the village of Sooke, where her residence was located. By my research, this would have been a short trip.

Last contact: September 26th, 2001 (Wednesday), seen at 9:30pm.

November 10th, 2001. Times Colonist.

Last location: Sooke, BC near Sooke Road, which appears as BC Highway 14 or Juan De Fuca Highway on modern maps. In newspaper coverage, it says she was last seen "heading" to a bus stop outside Saseenos Elementary School, which is near where she went to high school. Furthermore, these buildings were not far from her home. 

After researching the case, I would say Sooke Road around Saseenos Elementary School and Edward Milne Community School is where she was last seen. I did notice that the newspaper coverage of her last known location toggled between her last being seen walking to a bus stop or standing at a bus stop. Perhaps it's a small difference. There is a memorial that appears on Google Maps at 6072 Sooke Road in the westbound lane that marks her last-known location (use old dates for Google Maps if its overgrown in modern times).

October 9th, 2001. The Province,

Yet, another source says she was last seen hitchhiking, which is ominous. However, I do think that this source, posted below, got the information wrong.

October 12th, 2001. Times Colonist.

Age when Jesokah Adkens disappeared: 17

DOB: May 1st, 1984

Sex: Female

Height in inches: 65

Weight in pounds (lbs): 88 pounds according to Canada's Missing but described as 110 pounds in a media article. That is a huge discrepancy but I think if anyone is cross-referencing this to a Jane Doe, use the 110-pound measurement. A weight of 88 pounds at a height of 5'5" would be a person whose weight could be viewed as unhealthily low.

Times Colonist. October 27th, 2001.

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Hair color: Blonde, long and straight

Eye Color: Blue

Scar or distinctive characteristic: Scar on her chin, under her lip

Link to Government Source: 2001008160 (right click to open)

Websleuths discussion page: Jesokah Adkens (right click to open)

Clothing: According to a newspaper source, she was wearing a light-blue shirt (called a fleece top in one source), dark blue jeans, and running shoes when she disappeared. Another source says she was wearing a black bomber-styled pullover jacket, her shirt featured The Doors, and her shoes were black.

Parents: Clayton or Clayten and Jocelan Adkens

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert

Original time of writing: February 4th, 2025

Has Jesokah Adkens been found?

Jesokah Adkens went missing on September 26th, 2001. She has not been found since that time. This is a case that received quite a bit of newspaper coverage, both shortly after her disappearance and then in the years that followed.

The Times Colonist, Victoria's newspaper on Vancouver Island, published the first newspaper article that I could find on October 3rd, 2001. It headlined that police suspected foul play in her disappearance. There were several details from this newspaper article that I will bullet point below:

• Jesokah was in Grade 11 at Edward Milne Community School.
• She went missing from a bus stop just down the street from her high school (in front of Saseenos Elementary School).
• She lived in the 6600 Block of Sooke Road (another source says she lived on Kaltasin Road but this didn't make sense to me; I don't see the need to take a bus or hitchhike to that road based on where she was last seen).
• The newspaper article said she lived with a roommate (female), which I found a little strange due to the MP's age (ie. she was a minor). But Adkens had moved out of her original home.
• The police made statements that suggested that she was not a runaway or suicidal. All of her ID and credentials were at her home. I found this very credible and relevant because I think the police generally have a tendency to label a teenager as a runaway or suicidal to take pressure off of their search efforts. 
• A tracking dog yielded no clues.
• The bus driver was interviewed but said nothing that helped.
• She had a boyfriend and there was a recent "quarrel" but that was described as normal. Another source said the boyfriend was not a suspect.

There are two bus stops outside of Saseenos Elementary School on modern Google Maps. However, the street-cam updates for the area only go back to June 2009. The modern bus stops were not present in 2001.

Presumptively, Adkens was waiting for a bus in the westbound lane as that would have been the one taking her home (which would have been a short ride). There is a memorial for her last-known location (48.38739149685625, -123.6908089900206). Toggle between the years at Google Maps if you have trouble finding it.

There was no police apathy in the early days of this case. I found a statement on October 4th, 2001, stating that they were treating her disappearance as a homicide until they had reason not to (Sgt. Don Brown qtd. in The Province). This same article states that she was "heading" to a bus stop, as opposed to being stationary at it, when she was last seen. However, another article on October 6th says she was waiting at the bus stop when she was last seen.

• Adkens had a probation officer.
• She had dinner with a male friend (called her boyfriend in the November 10th, 2001 Times Colonist) the night she disappeared. Another source, says she had dinner with three friends that night. The name of the restaurant and location would be a good tidbit to have.
• Adkens had a hitchhiking habit.

Conflicting Reports and Case Insights: Jesokah Adkens Missing Person

One thing that I really noticed with this case is that there were different descriptions of what she was doing when last seen. One source says she was at a bus stop, another says she was walking to a bus stop, and yet another says she was last seen hitchhiking. But the only thing definitive was that she was last seen on Sooke Road around Saseenos Elementary School and her high school, Edward Milne Community School, at about 9:30pm after dining out.

In newspaper coverage from 2019, Jesokah was described as someone who kept dangerous associations, involving street people and drug users/dealers. Furthermore, this article (May 22nd, 2019 Times Colonist) says that Jesokah received a benefits payment on the day she disappeared but it was never used.

Modern news link: Times Colonist, September 26th, 2021

• Stated that the bus driver who worked the night she disappeared was interviewed but was not able to provide any details.
• An October 1st, 2025, news article contained no new information about the case at CHEK News

Very Similar Case: Vancouver Island Disappearance of Carmen Robinson

Roughly 28 years earlier, a woman disappeared from nearby Victoria on Vancouver Island in a case with some stark similarities. The time gap between Adkens' disappearance and this former case is large but I felt that it should be mentioned. 

The case of Carmen Robinson involves a 17-year-old caucasian blonde woman who was last seen at a bus stop. The age, sex, ethnicity, hair color, hair length and style, and case details involving a bus stop do match up between the two cases.

Furthermore, the two locations, Sooke and Victoria, are in the same part of Vancouver Island. The distance between where Robinson was last seen and Adkens is a half-hour drive according to modern Google Maps and fewer than 30 kilometers in space. Lastly, both young women went missing fairly late in the evening as they attempted to travel home.

One difference between the two cases is that Adkens was last seen going to a bus stop or waiting for a bus at a bus stop (depending on which source you go with). Conversely, Robinson was last seen alighting a bus at a bus stop.

Carmen Robinson's case at Missing Person's Commentary.

28 years between the events is a long time. Yet, it could be the same person responsible for both disappearances. I felt that the cases could be mentioned together as food for thought as reading about the disappearance of Adkens did remind me of the disappearance of Robinson for the reasons mentioned.