Heartbreak has gripped the Nigerian community in the United States after 29-year-old Tolulope Oladimeji, who was declared missing in Atlanta on August 5, 2025, was discovered dead in a wooded area outside Gwinnett County, Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Monday, August 19, that her decomposed body was found by hunters inside a shallow ditch near Stone Mountain Park.
Family sources say Tolulope, a graduate of the University of Lagos who moved to the US in 2022 for postgraduate studies, disappeared after telling roommates she was stepping out to buy groceries. Her phone went off hours later, and multiple search parties and social media campaigns were launched by Nigerians in diaspora under the hashtag #FindTolu.
Local police initially labelled her a “voluntary missing adult,” claiming there were no signs of foul play. However, her family angrily disputes that, insisting she was being stalked and had previously complained of threats from a man she met at a restaurant where she worked part-time. They accuse the authorities of ignoring their reports because she was a Black immigrant.
The painful discovery has set off calls for an independent autopsy amid suspicion that Tolulope may have been kidnapped or murdered. The body, according to coroners, was badly decomposed, making immediate cause of death unclear. DNA confirmation was made using dental records and personal effects provided by her mother.
Nigerians abroad are now urging the Nigerian Embassy in Washington D.C. to push for a homicide investigation. Several diaspora groups argue the US has a “pattern of negligence” when African immigrants are involved. Tolulope’s uncle, Deji Oladimeji, says the family will not allow the case to “quietly die under the carpet of racism and bureaucracy.”
The Consulate has said it is “monitoring the situation,” while US authorities insist they are awaiting toxicology results. Social media has exploded in outrage, with hashtags #JusticeForTolulope and #BlackWomenDeserveProtection topping Nigerian X trends on Tuesday.
The family plans to fly her remains back to Lagos for burial next week, after a candlelight vigil scheduled for Friday in downtown Atlanta. They say all they want now is justice — and the truth about what really happened to their daughter in a country where she believed her dreams would be safe.
