Where is Corinna Slusser?
“Only two years ago... so much was different then. My daughter was a great student, a cheerleader. She had many friends and lived her life as a normal teenager. I need her home and I can’t bear any more days like this. I fear the worst but I pray for the best and her to return home ... waiting for an Angel to hear my prayer”
These are the words of heartbroken mother, Sabina Tuorto, whose 19 year old daughter, Corinna Slusser, has been missing since September 20th, 2017.
Corinna was last seen at Haven hotel, a budget motel in Queens, New York, on Woodhaven Boulevard, just a 5 mile drive from LaGuardia Airport.
Online reviews from visitors of the Haven hotel swing between disgusted and unimpressed.
“Very nasty motel. Smells like pee and weed. Rooms are very dirty and smell bad. Bathroom has gang writing all over the doors mirror. DO NOT GO THERE !!!!!!!!” warns most recent Google user Drea Luv.
“This place was nasty as hell. If your looking for a spot to do drugs or take a hooker this is it. Omg I was pissed. I felt dirty as hell by the time I got to the room. Then I hauled ass up outta here. They gotta do better, or be shut down.” wrote another shocked customer.
Reviews on Yelp are no better, with people who live in the area warning people not to check in:
“I live right by this place and feel compelled to review it. It's a motel mostly for prostitutes- seriously. The cops are constantly out investigating it and there's always an issue. Parking lot is generally full of mini vans (vom). It goes on an hourly rate. The windows are tinted 100% black. Repulsive. This place should seriously be shut down.”
A quick Google search for “Haven hotel, Queens” turns up various articles from as far back as the mid 2000’s discussing the illicit goings-on at the budget motel. Neighbouring businesses and residents who lived behind the Haven over ten years ago would regularly complain of sketchy characters, including pimps and drug dealers, frequenting the surrounding area- an issue that only got worse when police closed down other nearby “no-tell-motels” in the area. Residents of 68th Avenue were said to be wholly unimpressed and understandably disgusted at the carpet of used condoms and drug paraphernalia that seeped onto their streets from the back of the Haven hotel. Looking at the most recent reviews for the newly renovated motel it seems the Haven has yet to shake off the sketchy reputation it has earned itself over the years, with unsuspecting tourists, both domestic and international, regretting their stay enough to leave warnings online.
Corinna was last seen leaving Haven motel during the early hours of the morning on the 20th of September last year.
Corinna Slusser lived in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. She was a cheerleader for the corn huskers and expressed an interesting in pursuing a career as a makeup artist. Her social media profiles, including a Facebook page, Twitter and instagram account that she updated regularly, show a beautiful blue eyed teenager with loose blond waves framing a face of near perfect makeup. She looks bright and happy with an active social life. In weekly updates she throws up peace signs and is shown hugging friends and sitting in front of beautiful sunsets. The more recent the images, the more grown up she appears, the cheerleading outfits and causal beach fashion become bikini tops and joints.
Her most recent selfie is underlined with comments from strangers. Some talking to her, admitting they don’t know her but have been following her story in the media and hope she’ll be safely returned. Others are not so kind and attack her naivety for getting herself mixed up in a world of pimps and drug lords. Some argue that the only reason Corrina’s case has such widespread media attention is due to the fact that she is “a pretty blonde white girl”. None of the users know her personally. The last comment on any of her posts from a real life friend is the most recent picture, which is an image of a young woman smoking a joint in the street.
“Still praying every day i get to see you again” it reads. Arguments between other users surround it.
It’s this most recent image, uploaded September 11th, 2017 and thought to be taken in the Bronx that has garnered the most interest. People look at the photograph for clues regarding the 19 year olds disappearance.
“cyphin mid day mid road is always good for the soul” the caption reads.
Earlier in 2017, Corinna had attempted suicide after falling into a deep depression. She had recently moved out of her mother’s home after dropping out of high school (despite being so close to graduating) and been staying with friends at the time. The attempt to end her life landed her in hospital and it was there that she apparently met an older man that she would eventually move to New York City with. Friends of the teen stated that the man had offered her a place to stay and the prospect of an exciting life. A far cry from the small town life she had been living in Bloomington.
Her auntie, Julie Anne Becker-Calfa, revealed that Corinna wanted out of the town she’d grown up in and most likely saw the man as a means to get away and start a new life somewhere else. Apparently, the girl would often stay with her aunt in Massachusetts as she didn’t get along with her mother and the two often rowed. For this reason, both Corinna’s mother and aunt agreed that the teenager could move in with Becker-Calfa that December, but the plans were postponed after “disturbing information” regarding her last visit was discovered. Although she would be permitted to move in, in January when her aunt returned from a trip, the delay upset her and she moved in with friends instead.
The man Corinna left with is 32 years of age and suspected to be a pimp from Harlem. Police believe that Corinna moved from Bloomsburg to Harlem and had been coerced into prostitution by her pimp boyfriend, who she referred to as “daddy”.
She neglected to take her possessions with her when she left Pennsylvania taking only what she had on her at time; the clothes she was wearing, her cell phone and identification. She kept in regular contact with her family and friends and of course continued to update her social media accounts.
The 32 year old man is known to police and has a slew of previous arrests for crimes relating to prostitution (such as “promoting prostitution”). Although it is only a theory, investigating officers are entertaining the idea that Corinna has been moved from pimp to pimp and is no longer in NYC. They fear that she has fallen victim to a sex trafficking ring and are working to locate her. Apparently her name has been mentioned in various recent vice investigations.
A month before the teenager went missing, her mother received a court document that revealed her 19 year old daughter had been the victim of an assault. The document stated that on the 25th of August 2017 at around 1:00am, Corrine Slusser made a 911 call from the Harlem Vista Hotel in Northern Manhattan claiming she’d been assaulted by her “pimp”. She told officers that while she was showering the man had stolen $300 from her, and when she asked him about it he reacted by grabbing her around the throat, smashing her head against a wall and strangling her. Officers found her speaking at speed, crying and shaking in the room. The attacker on the order of protection document was identified as a 32 year old male name Yovanny Peguero.
When Corrina’s mother, sick with worry, contacted her, the 19 year old played the incident down and said it was nothing. Of course by now, both Sabina Tuorto and Julie Anne Becker-Calfa were terrified that their loved one was being pimped out in New York City.
Matters became more worrying when Corinna neglected to attend her grandfather’s funeral in Florida in the autumn of 2017. She provided her mother with the excuse that her identification had been stolen and she was unable to get a flight. She did, however, vow to return home to Pennsylvania the following day, but she never turned up. Her family was unable to contact her from that moment on, and several days later she was reported as a missing person.
Corinna’s Twitter account has a tweet from the 7th of September 2017 implying that she was renting her own apartment in Jerome Park, Grand concourse in the Bronx. “Never been more happier in my life. Forver dream accomplished” she wrote.
“living in New York taught me so much and I've been here for 2 weeks” Reads a Tweet from the 25th august 2017.
Corinna Slusser is still missing.
She is Caucasian, has blue eyes, blond hair, stands at around 5”6 and weights around 140lbs. She has a distinctive black tattoo in the middle of her chest of a lotus flower.
If you have any information regarding Corrina’s whereabouts, please do not hesitate to contact the following numbers:
English: 800-577-TIPS
Spanish: 888-57-PISTA
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