She Was 12-Years-Old And 9 Months Pregnant When She Disappeared Into The Cold December Night 25 Years Ago
Willingboro, New Jersey. 12-year-old Celina Janette Mays didn’t have a cushy or easy life at all, and her struggles started long before she became pregnant as a pre-teen.
Her parents met back when her dad, C.J. Mays, was a musician and her mom, Lynn Marie Vitale, was a dancer.
They both had substance abuse issues and a turbulent relationship that turned violent quite frequently.
They never did get married, but after they ended things with one another a bitter custody battle for Celina ensued. Lynn ultimately won and got full custody of Celina.
Lynn worked hard on herself while harnessing her addictions, and she was able to land a job as a school custodian.
Sadly, when Celina was 10-years-old, Lynn passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm. A full-blown battle was on again for who had custody over Celina, with her mom’s loved ones on one end and her dad C.J. on the other.
After going to live for a bit with a few of Lynn’s friends, Celina was sent to live with C.J. on Crestwood Drive, a residential street in Willingboro, New Jersey.
Celina and C.J. were not the only ones under that roof; one of Celina’s aunts, her stepmother, and various other relatives lived there as well.
New Jersey State Police; pictured above is Celina at the time of her disappearance
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C.J. and Celina were not that close, as Lynn did her best to keep C.J. out of Celina’s life. He had moved on from music and started working as a bookkeeper and accountant for the Gospel of Christ Ministries Inc.
He became consumed with his newfound religious group, which was later described as more of a cult by members who had left.
When Celina arrived at her dad’s house, he decided she was no longer going to be in public school. He started homeschooling her and imposing strict rules on her. She had to attend church frequently.
Google Maps; pictured above is Crestwood Drive
At 12-years-old, Celina became pregnant, and C.J. became enraged. He told Celina he would force her to have a paternity test done on her child so he would know who the father of the baby was.
Despite his threats, Celina never told her family members who the father of her unborn baby was. She refused.
An aunt suspected that while Celina was out rollerskating one day, she had met a boy and that’s who had gotten her pregnant, but that was never confirmed.
Just 2 days before Celina disappeared, she went to go see her obstetrician. She was 9 months pregnant at the time and approximately 2 weeks away from having her baby.
She mentioned to her obstetrician that the father of her baby was not part of her church. She also told her doctor the boy was 16-years-old.
On December 15th, 1996, Celina ate dinner at home with her family. At 11 p.m. she politely thanked her cousin who had made the meal and went to her bedroom.
The very next day, C.J. went into Celina’s room to make sure she was up. When he pulled back the covers, Celina was not in her bed. A pile of pillows had been arranged to make it look like she had been though.
Celina’s personal items, like her purse, were still left behind in her room. Her prenatal vitamins were also still sitting there.
Authorities haven’t been shy in saying C.J. and other members of Celina’s family weren’t any help in giving them information related to her disappearance.
It’s been 25 years and nobody has seen Celina since that cold December night. If you know anything about what happened to Celina please call the Willingboro Police Department at 609-877-2253.
National Center Missing & Exploited Children; pictured above is an age-progressed photo of Celina
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