CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Mystery surrounds the death of a social media influencer from Maryland whose body was found in an abandoned home on Francis Avenue in Cleveland last week.
The family of Karen “Reyna” Dunlap, 30, of College Park, Maryland traveled to Cleveland on Tuesday to meet with Cleveland Police Detectives who are investigating the death, along with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Karen Jones is Reyna’s mother, “She loved being the center of attention. She just wanted to be a positive or negative force in people’s lives. Reyna was also very controversial. Reyna was kind, loving, and generous to a fault. She loved being around people and loved being the center of attention. She just wanted to be a positive or negative force in people’s lives.”
Jones also admitted her daughter was also controversial and if she couldn’t get attention in a positive way, she would get attention in a negative way.
The Maryland influencer was chasing her life-long dream of being famous, hoping to one day land a gig on the reality show Baddies Midwest.
Her mother, sister, and uncle were puzzled and wondering why she was in Cleveland in the first place, “We don’t have any connections to Cleveland at all and we didn’t even know she was out of the state of Maryland,” Karen Jones told 19 News.
There is speculation that Reyna may have been in Northeast Ohio to try out for the Baddies Midwest show, because she knew one of the executive producers and a number of others who are a part of the cast.
Her mother and sister told 19 News Reyna would have never walked into an abandoned house, and when police found her Reyna’s hair and nails were freshly done, but the petite 30-year-old was dressed in large uncharacteristic clothing.
Her belongings including her cell phone, her identification, and other items were missing.
The family said according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner and Cleveland Police there were no obvious signs of trauma.
“They suspected that it was an overdose. I said my daughter has never used hard drugs, talk to anybody. I will stake my life that the toxicology is going to come back that she did not have any hard drugs in her system,” said Jones.
The Maryland woman’s exact cause of death has not been determined at this time.
Her sister Kira Dunlap cried telling 19 News she misses the sister who always watched out for her and she said the family has uncovered troubling medical paperwork among her belongings, “She had gone to a rape crisis center on Nov. 29 here in Cleveland. Someone was hurting her.”
“Our biggest concern is that someone was holding her against her will. Reyna had concerns and had posted that she had been sex trafficked,” said Jones.
Jones said the family never saw the post, but her social media followers said at one point there was even a picture of Reyna who appeared to be badly beaten and said at that time the social media sensation said something troubling, that she was drugged.
The family asks anyone with information on where and when they may have last seen Reyna Dunlap in Cleveland or Maryland to contact Cleveland Police.
The family plans to hold a memorial service for Reyna in Maryland.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover some of the costs associated with her memorial service.
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