Left and Center: Coral circa, 1998
Right: Age Progressed to age 30
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: September 22, 1998
Missing From: Flint, Genesee County, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: September 21, 1984
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 4’11” and 85 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Female, Blonde hair, Blue eyes, Coral has a round scar/mark on the front base of her neck and her ears are pierced
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A green sweatshirt, a gray/blue t-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, Coral might have possibly been wearing Pooh Bear earrings at the time of her 1998 disappearance
NCMEC Number: 857702
Details of Disappearance
Coral went missing from Flint, Michigan on September 22nd 1998. She was living with her grandmother, Lois Arlene Janish, when she disappeared. Janish’s boyfriend, Bruce Strait, also lived with them at the time of Coral’s disappearance. She was reportedly last seen when she left the apartment they shared to go and return a book to another apartment upstairs. She never returned apparently and was never seen again.
Coral was last known to be calling from a pay phone located at Ann Arbor and West Court Streets late that night. She called her friend, Melissa Pierce, and asked her if she could stay with her. She was having problems at her home at the time. Melissa was in a different part of the state when Coral called but she managed to get a ride from her uncle. When they went to the area, Coral was nowhere in sight.
Melissa and her uncle drove around and looked for Coral but she wasn’t anywhere. Her disappearance was reported two days after she was last heard from. Coral had a very horrible life prior to her disappearance.
Coral was raised by Lois after her mother, Sharon A. Jones, was deemed to be an unfit parent. She did have contact with her mother but it was very infrequent. The identity of Coral’s father is unknown. Her mother died of a drug overdose on December 23rd 1996, 2 years before her disappearance. She went to the funeral and this happened to be the last time she saw her younger half sister.
Her half sister was raised in a different manner than Coral. She was placed in foster care at some point before Corals disappearance.
Coral grew up being in poverty. Her and Lois mainly relied on public assistance like food stamps on order to meet their necessary needs. Lois was previously investigated by the Department of Human Services for the possible mistreatment of her granddaughter. She was allegedly medically neglecting and being abusive towards Coral. She was investigated a total of 5 times before Corals ultimate disappearance.
There was evidence of Lois abusing Coral. A male acquaintance of Coral told authorities that he frequently smoked crack cocaine with Coral and her grandmother once offered him “time alone” with the child in exchange for drugs. He said he noticed Coral showed signs of physical abuse and she complained to him that Lois mistreated her.
Coral also got into quite a bit of trouble before her disappearance. She was known to be truant from school, rebelled against Lois’s rules, and associated with drug dealers. She apparently missed so much school that she was being considered for foster placement at the time.
On the day that Coral went missing, she and Pierce went to the DHS to report she was being abused. She was originally assumed to have runaway from home to avoid the troubles in her life. She was believed to have traveled to Los Angeles, California with an adult male companion.
Investigators no longer believe she ran away. Coral is suspected to have been murdered but her body has yet to be recovered. On July 31st 2013, Lois was arrested and charged with the murder of her granddaughter. Investigators have stated she confessed multiple times as to how Coral was killed but almost always recanted her stories.
Lois was always considered a suspect in Corals case and gave various inconsistent statements in the years since her disappearance. Investigators also believe Bruce Strait was involved in Corals murder but he died before he could be arrested. Coral previously accused Bruce of sexually abusing her. He was recently released from prison before she disappeared and said he wasn’t going back to prison because of her.
When Lois was interrogated by police about the case in between 2011 and 2012, she admitted to being on crack cocaine and claimed she killed Coral by beating her to death with a hammer. She then said she dismembered her remains and scattered them. She would later recant this confession.
She would always change her story. She even once said Coral was raped and stabbed to death by Bruce. She even once said that Coral was found raped and stabbed in California but that wasn’t true. It was also alleged she admitted to dismembering her granddaughter’s body with Bruce and that she visited the grave site 3 to 4 times.
Investigators also interviewed three woman whom were in the same jail as Lois. They said she was “scary” and that she giggled while explaining she beat Coral on the head with a hammer and then scattering her remains. Many searches have been conducted but none have produced Hall’s remains.
Lois was originally charged with open murder in relation to Corals presumed murder. In September of 2015, however, Lois plead no contest to 2nd degree murder in the case. She was sentenced to approximately 9 years in prison. It’s unlikely she’ll live to ever be released since she was already 75 years old by that time.
At the time of her disappearance, she attended McKinley Middle School and was described as an intelligent teenager but was also said to be angry and withdrawn. Coral remains missing but investigators hope to recover her remains. Foul play is highly suspected in her case.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Flint Police Department 810-766-7036
Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children