St. Louis woman remains missing; family, police plead for tips

Monica Sykes, 25, went missing from her home in Berkeley, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. Her despairing mother, Regina, is distraught with worry.

Regina says Monica, a restaurant server, spent the night with a friend -- a rookie cop with the Berkeley Police. Regina says the family last saw Monica when he brought her home shortly after sunrise.

"It was around 6:48 a.m., and that's what the time stamp on the security system has, 6:48 a.m. She left the house at 7:01 a.m., and that was the time stamp on the security system for her locking the door," said Regina. "She told my grandsons that she was going to get them some candy and she would see them later."

Berkeley Police Captain Art Jackson says that rookie cop is not considered a suspect.

"Once he dropped her off he came to work," said Jackson.

But Jackson says there is another man who is a person of interest, a boyfriend Monica had been seeing.

Regina says when Monica left the house she was wearing flip-flop sandals and carrying her cellphone, and she got into the man's white car at an intersection. Cops say Monica's cellphone pinged some nearby towers. But one big problem: Monica left her wallet at home, so she didn't leave a paper trail.

"A lot of people might use their credit cards, their debit cards, or take their purse -- things of that nature. Nothing like that has occurred," said Jackson.

During the investigation, something strange and perhaps even suspicious happened. Capt. Jackson says the boyfriend's car -- the car Monica reportedly got into -- mysteriously caught on fire.

"This person of interest, the male who she has been dating for a couple of months, his car was found engulfed in flames," said Jackson.

Jackson says that man is in the St. Louis County Jail on an unrelated charge, and isn't cooperating with investigators regarding Monica's disappearance. So far they can't link him to the missing mystery.

And desperate for any answers, Regina and her husband have taken matters into their own hands, setting up a sort of "war room" inside their house, organizing all the clues.

Regina is also taking to social media to get the word out, setting up a Facebook page.

And until she hears otherwise, she's holding out hope her daughter is still alive, somewhere, and will soon come back home to the family that misses her so much.

Monica Sykes is described as standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 100 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.