Authorities continue investigation in case of missing woman

September 23, 2007 (WLS) -- The search has intensified for a missing Chicago woman. The 28-year-old's car was found on a street in Hammond, Indiana, but there was no sign of her.

Trinity United Church of Christ, on the city's South Side, dedicated its Sunday evening service to Nailah Franklin, who was last seen Tuesday.

"Nailah, she's coming home that I do know. When? That's not my call. That's God's call. He's in control of this," said Dwayne Johnson, the missing woman's uncle.

Chicago police have a team of forensic investigators searching Nailah Franklin's car for clues on her whereabouts.

ABC7 Chicago spoke with the man who found Franklin's Chevrolet Impala. At first, Hammond Indiana resident Jim Neveau didn't know what he had found when he saw the car. The disabled truck driver says he noticed the car Tuesday as he took his usual walk to a nearby gas station.

"All four windows were down and it was dusty, and there was stuff in the car," he said.

It wasn't until Friday while watching the evening news that Neveau realized that the vehicle could belong to missing Chicago woman Nailah Franklin.

"I said, 'Let me go down and check the plate number, and it was the car. It was the first time I'd heard the plate number, and I found it," Neveau said.

Chicago police investigators towed the car into the city Saturday to process it for evidence, just hours before police divers spent a portion of Saturday morning searching a Cook County forest preserve pond in south suburban Calumet City.

Authorities will not say if they found anything in the car, but relatives say detectives did locate some of Franklin's jewelry, and possibly, one of her missing laptop computers.

The whereabouts of the 28-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative remain a mystery. Residents in the area where her vehicle was found say they have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Some neighbors in the area where the car was found claim they encountered an unfamiliar man roaming the block asking for help.

"He wanted directions to 117th and Vincennes in Chicago," said area resident Larry Chambers

That is one of the many leads investigators are still following since Nailah disappeared several days ago. Friends say, on Tuesday, the young woman sent text messages to her current boyfriend, her boss and family that she was at dinner and would call later, but she never did. After Nailah missed an important business meeting the next day, her family became worried. They became even more concerned when they learned that Franklin had recently filed a police report alleging she had received threatening messages from a man she once dated.

Nailah's family and friends are trying to stay hopeful. About 100 people attended a candlelight prayer vigil for the missing woman after a day of false alarms Saturday. Still, many say the recent developments are encouraging.

"They've allowed me to continue to hope, and I think that is the general consensus of our family and friends and all those who are standing with us," said Lehia Franklin Acox, Nailah's sister.

A prayer vigil at scheduled for Sunday evening at a South Side church.

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