Jerika Binks remains missing one year after vanishing during a run
A missing poster for Jerika Alvey Binks is pictured at the entrance station in American Fork Canyon on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.
William Nockles, a drone pilot who has searched for Jerika Binks, took a photo of Binks' friends and family forming a heart Sunday at Art Dye Park in American Fork. Binks went missing during a run on Feb. 18, 2018.
Reagan Outdoor Advertising freeway billboard sharing information about Jerika Binks, who has been missing since February.
Photos, taken from a Utah Department of Natural Resources motion-activated camera, show Binks running down the Timpanogos Cave National Monument trail in American Fork Canyon at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 18, 2018, the day she went missing.
Jerika Binks has been missing since she went for a run Feb. 18, 2018. Binks is white, female, 5-foot-4, 120 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing black five-toed running shoes and a two-toned hoodie, with dark grey on the back and light grey on the front and dark green leggings.
Jerika Binks was always a runner.
“Since she was a little girl, everywhere she went she ran,” said Suzanne Westring, Binks’ mother. “I used to laugh and say, ‘Run, Forrest, run.’ She just took off running. It wasn’t a walk or a skip. It was running.”
The morning of Feb. 18, 2018, Binks slipped into a pair of new running shoes, put on a pair of leggings and a hoodie, grabbed her cellphone and left for a run.
Binks, who was 24 years old at the time, left from a sober house in an unincorporated part of Utah County near American Fork on North County Boulevard north of 300 North, ran north on North County Boulevard and was spotted on trail camera footage on the trail leading to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument in American Fork Canyon.
As far as authorities know, she hasn’t been seen since.
A year after her disappearance, Binks’ family hasn’t given up the search for her and continues to urge anyone who knows anything to come forward.
“If anyone out there knows anything, would they please come forward, because I know someone knows something,” Westring said. “She could not have just disappeared off the face of the earth, and I am just begging for the one person who has information who will help us find Jerika so I can bring her home.”
Binks’ friends and family gathered Sunday at Art Dye Park in American Fork to remember Binks and pray. Her family formed a heart that was captured on camera by William Nuckols, a drone pilot who Westring now considers family after his help with the search.
Westring said people continue to search American Fork Canyon for Jerika. When the snow melts, they plan to have drone pilots search the area again for Binks.
The area around Timpanogos Cave has been extensively searched by search and rescue teams, drones, helicopters and airplanes, according to a press release from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. Other areas in the canyon, including Tibble Fork Reservoir, have also been searched.
Detectives have spoken to neighbors and businesses near where Binks lives and along the route she took that day. They have received numerous tips from both within and outside of Utah, including possible sightings of Binks and information from individuals who claim to be psychic.
“All of these tips have been found to be unsubstantiated or the information was not at all credible,” the release states.
Every tip has been followed up on by detectives, and Binks’ family members, friends, associates and tipsters have been interviewed, according to the release.
At the time of her disappearance, Binks was staying at a sober home. She had a history of drug problems, but had responded well to treatment, was clean and was dedicated to her recovery.
Binks was reported missing on Feb. 19, 2018. The American Fork Police Department initially took the report until realizing the home was not within the city, according to the release.
Long runs were routine for Binks. She stayed in shape so she could always be ready whenever someone asked her to run a race and had sporadically ran marathons, according to her brother, Jed Binks.
“We can’t express how much she was really in shape and how she could endure a lot of long distance,” he said.
A year after she was last seen, people continue to tell Jed Binks that they are keeping an eye out for his sister and keeping the family in their thoughts and prayers.
Drone footage has created a few potential leads, but items shown in footage have been things such as birthday balloons underneath snow, not the two-toned gray hoodie and dark green leggings Binks wore on her run.
More searches for Binks are planned when the weather begins to warm.
“Unfortunately, right now, there is snow, so we’ve had to put it on hold for a second and let the snow melt and then pick up where we left off,” Jed Binks said.
The first anniversary has been discouraging, he said, and he worries that since the first year seemed to go by fast, a potential second could, as well.
“It does hurt to not know answers,” he said.
He encourages anyone with information to come forward, even if it is something they think is small. Those interested in the search can follow the Finding Jerika page on Facebook, which is watched heavily by family and monitored for direct messages with potential tips.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Detective Pratt at (801) 851-4013 or Central Utah 911 at (801) 794-3970.
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