DETROIT – Detroit police and multiple law enforcement agencies launched a massive search on the city’s east side as part of an ongoing effort to locate missing persons, including 33-year-old missing Detroit woman Shanika Brewer.
“God answered my prayers today,” Brewer’s cousin, Alexis Thompkins, told Local 4. “I needed this.”
More than 100 law enforcement officials from 13 agencies, including the FBI, Detroit police, and Michigan State Police, began searching vacant homes and lots near Pingree Park as part of Operation United Block, a joint initiative involving local, state, and federal law enforcement.
Local 4 cameras captured crews beginning around 9 a.m. Tuesday (May 12) near Forest Avenue and Iroquois Street.
Fire trucks, emergency vehicles, tracking dogs, and a backhoe were stationed near a command center at the site.
“The search area is extending eight blocks by four blocks, so it’s a vast area,” Detroit police Commander Rebecca McKay said.
Detroit police said they will be searching inside and around 25 vacant homes and surrounding vacant lots for signs connected to Brewer and other missing persons cases.
Police said the operation is not focused solely on one missing person, but part of a broader effort tied to unresolved disappearances across the city.
Brewer’s family said she has been missing for just over three years, and told Local 4 they wished the effort to find her back in April of 2023 was greater.
“When I first brought the case up, it’s like nobody wanted to help,” Thompkins said. “I’ve been wanting this. I’ve been advocating for her. I’ve been trying so hard. And to finally get this far, it made me so happy.”
Detroit police said Brewer was last seen visiting a friend’s house on Sheridan Street near Forest Avenue, about a half-mile from Tuesday’s search area.
Her family said the people she was last seen with have not been helpful in the investigation.
“After that, she just disappeared,” Thompkins said. “She vanished. No phone records. Everything just stopped from that day. So you know something happened. She doesn’t just disappear. The phone got cut off. Everything just stopped. And we got nowhere. This is the first time we actually got somewhere.”
“Somebody knows something,” Thompkins added. “They know something. I know they do.”
Detroit police said investigators plan to remain near Pingree Park for at least two days and will continue searching as long as necessary.
“This is just a way for us to try and bring those loved ones back to their families. If it goes where we don’t find anybody in this particular instance, then we tried,” MSP First Lieutenant Mike Shaw said.
Operation United Block has included previous searches, and officials said additional digs are expected into October.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Shanika Brewer should contact the Detroit Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak Up.
All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.