What the Doctor Prescribed: Ebonee Spears

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: In January 2016, Ebonee Spears, a 30-year-old mother from Wilmington, North Carolina, walked out of her apartment—and never came back. Disoriented, paranoid, and claiming someone was following her, she visited a Boys and Girls Club and the police station hours before vanishing without a trace. Nine years later, her disappearance remains a haunting mystery. If you have any information about Ebonee's disappearance, please contact the Wilmington Police Department at 910-343-3620 or 910-343-3609. Her agency case number is: 2016-001807. 

This is the story of Ebonee Spears. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
highlighting a case that started in January twenty sixteen. A
thirty year old mother walked out of her Wilmington, North

(00:21):
Carolina apartment, heading to the store for cigarettes. She left
behind her purse her wallet in her car, never making
it back. In the hours before she vanished, she was
seen at a police station acting disoriented. She also appeared

(00:41):
at a boys and girls club, claiming someone was following her.
Nine years later, her mother still drives through Wilmington with
her daughter's face plastered on her car, refusing to stop searching.
This is the story of Ebony Spears. Eboni Sheanetta Spears

(01:09):
was thirty years old in January twenty sixteen. Born on
May twelfth, nineteen eighty five, she was the youngest of
four siblings and the devoted mother of a thirteen year
old daughter. She is described as standing five feet eight
inches tall in weighing about one hundred and thirty pounds.
She had black hair dyed blonde at the time of

(01:31):
her disappearance. And brown eyes. She also had a rose
tattoo on her right shoulder and a butterfly tattoo on
the top of her right foot. Her family describes her
as outspoken in loving. She enjoyed spending time with family
and hanging out with friends. Her nephew remembers her as loving,

(01:54):
always happy, always caring. But in the summer of two
thousand and fifty, Ebene's life changed. She was diagnosed with lupus,
a chronic autoimmune disease that would require ongoing medication and treatment.
Her mother, Harriet Rivers, told Dateline that kind of took

(02:16):
a toll on her mental health. As twenty fifteen turned
into twenty sixteen, Ebene's behavior began to shift. She was
taking medication for her lupus, as well as an antidepressant,
but something wasn't right. In the weeks leading up to
her disappearance, she checked into a hotel in downtown Wilmington

(02:40):
and accused the staff of stealing from her. No evidence
was ever found to support these claims. Her parents noticed
the change too. She became increasingly disoriented and paranoid. They
believed it was a negative reaction to her medication. They
even contemplated having her involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital,

(03:06):
hoping she could get the help that she needed, but
they never got the chance. Thursday January fourteenth, twenty sixteen,
the day before Ebony disappeared, Ebanie met with her boyfriend
and parents at the Wilmington Police Department headquarters. She was
reportedly erratic and distraught. Paramedics were called to the scene.

(03:31):
They spoke with her psychiatrists by phone, but Ebane was
not sent to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, and within
an hour she appeared lucid again. She spent that night
with her daughter at her parents' house on Price's Lane.
It would be the last time her family saw her Friday,

(03:54):
January fifteenth, twenty sixteen, the day Ebonie vanished. That morning,
Ebane had breakfast with her parents. Afterward, her father dropped
her off at her apartment on Brooklyn Lane at the
Point at Taylor Estates. At seven o'clock PM, Ebanie called
her parents to cancel their planned dinner. She told them

(04:17):
she had already eaten, but what happened next would set
off a series of events that no one could explain.
Around seven thirty pm, Ebone walked into the community boys
and Girls Club on Nixon Street. She approached staff members
with a disturbing claim someone was following her. Thirty minutes later,

(04:41):
around eight o'clock PM, she arrived at the Wilmington Police
Department station. She asked to use the phone. She paced
between the phone and the front desk, appeared frustrated, couldn't
operate the phone, and then walked out. Surveillance cameras captured
her walking toward the point at Taylor Estates, heading back

(05:04):
to her apartment complex. Around ten forty five PM, a
neighbor saw Ebony outside her apartment. She asked him for
a cigarette. He told her he didn't have any. Ebne responded,
I will just go to the store and get me some.
It was the last time anyone saw her. Around eleven

(05:26):
o'clock PM, Ebane's boyfriend went to her apartment to check
on her, but she was gone. He noticed something odd.
Her purse and wallet were still inside, and her car
was parked outside. The only thing that was missing was
her cell phone. The next day, Saturday, January sixteenth, twenty sixteen,

(05:49):
Ebane's parents filed a missing person's report with the Wilmington
Police Department. Search efforts began immediately police canvassed the area.
They reviewed surveillance footage, they interviewed witnesses, but Ebone had
simply vanished. Her mother, Harriet, said, I believe she may

(06:13):
have been walking to the store to buy cigarettes when someone,
either a person she knew or a stranger, stopped and
got her in their car. As the investigation continued, police
received tips suggesting Ebony owed a man from Georgia money.
The FBI opened a case investigating the possibility of a

(06:36):
kidnapping across state lines. Agents searched in Georgia, hoping to
find answers, but they came up empty. Years passed. Ebane's daughter, Anayah,
had to navigate her teen years without her mother. Birthdays
came and went, graduations, milestones, all with the Ebony there

(07:00):
to see them. Her mother refused to give up. She
kept a sign in the front yard. She drove a
car covered in posters and photos of her daughter. She
wanted everyone in Wilmington to remember Ebene's face. Nothing happens
in the city that no one knows about, she said.

(07:22):
Somebody knows something. In February twenty twenty two, six years
after Ebony disappeared, the que Center for Missing persons, and
the Wilmington Police Department conducted a massive two day search.
Dozens of trained volunteers, law enforcement, search dogs, and horses

(07:43):
combed the area looking for any sign of Ebony. Unfortunately,
they found nothing. Now nine years later, Ebony Spears is
still missing. Her case remains active with a detective assigned.
Police receive periodic tips, and they say each one is

(08:07):
followed up on. The Wilmington Police Department has partnered with
the Q Center for Missing Persons and Crime Stoppers to
offer a five thousand dollars reward for information leading to
the discovery of Ebony Spears, but so far, no one
has come forward with the answers. Her family desperately needs.

(08:28):
Loved ones still feel the agony every day. What I
sit around in wonder is is she okay? Is she well?
Is she taken care of? Her? Mother said? The questions
haunt her. Did Ebony wander off during a mental health
crisis and suffer a tragic accident? Did someone take advantage

(08:51):
of her vulnerable state that night? Or was something more
sinister at play, something connected to the mysterious man from Georgia.
Without answers, her family can only keep searching if you
have any information about the disappearance of Ebene Spears, please
contact the Wilmington Police Department. You can find their contact

(09:14):
information along with her case number in the description below.
As we close out this episode, remember to share Ebene's story.
Spreading more awareness could lead to more answers for her
family and investigators. Don't forget to click the follow button
to stay updated on Ebene's case and others like it.

(09:35):
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comments below. Thank you so much for joining us on
another episode. Until next time. Hunting for Answers is a

(10:09):
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