Devoted Atlanta mother goes missing after late-night altercation
09/13/2017 5:37 pm PDT
In a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia with a true mystery: What happened to young mother Athena Curry?
The suspicious disappearance of this beautiful young mother has cops in Atlanta baffled. Athena Curry mysteriously vanished from the home of her baby's father in the middle of the night.
"With no purse, no phone and no child," said Atlanta Police Sgt. Cheree Herbert.
"She had an extremely strong bond with King, the son. I have a hard time believing she would just leave him," said Det. David Stribling.
"Why didn't she come back?" said Athena's sister Aisha Magee.
Athena Curry was a beautiful 20-year-old college student who dreamed of one day becoming a pediatrician.
"And she loved to write, and she has a book of poems that I have that she's written," said Aisha Magee.
Aisha was even at Athena's side in the delivery room when she gave birth to her son, King.
"She was a great mom," said Aisha.
Athena was totally devoted to the child for the precious first 16 months of his life.
"Wherever she was, King was," said Aisha.
And just before she disappeared, an excited Athena surprised Aisha with the news that she and King were about to become one big happy family with child's 26-year-old father, Yusef Ibn Mujahid.
"She said 'Guess what? Me and Yusef are going to find our own place together,'" said Aisha. "That was a shocker because I didn't know they were communicating, or even seeing each other."
Aisha says the two had been on-again/off-again for several years.
"They would fight, and that's what scared me about the relationship," said Aisha.
Aisha claims Athena told her Yusef had physically abused her in the past. Once, Aisha alleges, was on the very day Athena was being discharged from the hospital after giving birth to his child.
"He had Tasered her with a Taser gun," said Aisha. "Inside the hospital. She did not call the police."
And according to Sgt. Cheree Herbert, there had been other violent incidents.
"Two days prior to her disappearance, she was outside screaming and hollering for the neighbors to call the police, and Yusef was beating her on the ground," said Sgt. Herbert.
Police say Yusef had likewise alleged that Athena was violent toward him, once attacking him with a pair of scissors.
"They had been fighting and at some point she injured him," said Det. Stribling.
And in her last conversation with Athena, Aisha says she actually warned her sister to be careful after she'd taken her son and gone to spend a weekend house-hunting with Yusef.
"What I said to her was 'I'm calling to check on you, to make sure Yusef didn't put you in a grave somewhere,'" said Aisha. "That was how fearful I was of her spending any time with him."
Aisha would never see nor or hear from her little sister again.
"So I speak to her that Friday. She doesn't come home that Monday and her phone's dead," said Aisha. "At this point, I'm sick, scared."
More than three days would go by before Aisha says she finally received a text message from Yusef asking if she'd seen Athena, and telling her she'd stormed out of his house at 3 a.m. the night she arrived in May 2017.
"Not only does he say he doesn't know where she is, he said that she's been gone since Friday, and now it's Tuesday," said Aisha.
And detectives tell Crime Watch Daily that Yusef admitted that on the night Athena disappeared, she'd made a shocking discovery that led her to believe he was cheating on her.
"She happened to get ahold of his phone and saw some text messages from another female," said Sgt. Herbert. "And apparently there was an argument. The next thing she walks out of the house, never to be heard from or seen again."
Yusef denied having anything to do with her disappearance.
And Stribling says there was no evidence of foul play at Yusef's house.
"It did not appear that a physical altercation or a crime had happened," said Stribling.
Do police consider Yusef a person of interest?
"Absolutely," said Herbert. "Because he was the last one who spoke to Athena and he shared a relationship with her and has a child with her."
Are there any other persons of interest right now in this case police would want to identify publicly?
"No, not at this time," said Herbert.
Police and family don't believe Athena Curry would disappear of her own volition, abandoning the child she loved so dearly.
"She had an extremely strong bond with King, the son. I have a hard time believing she would just leave him," said Stribling.
"Not plausible," said sister Aisha.
"She may walk away from the relationship, but she wouldn't have walked away from King," said Herbert.
Aisha, who has adopted King, who is now seven years ago, can only hope and pray that by some miracle Athena will be found alive and reunited with her son.
"Every time I get him dressed, I always say, 'Athena, I want you to be proud,'" said Aisha.
Crime Watch Daily did try multiple times to talk to Yusef Ibn Mujahid about Athena Curry's disappearance. The first time we were in Atlanta, he was in jail after three separate incidents involving two other girlfriends. He has since been charged with multiple felony counts, including aggravated assault and strangulation. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and was recently released on bond.
