CRIME, POLICE + COURTS
Family of woman found in Ogden Canyon demand answers, voice frustrations
May 14, 2020, 5:58 PM | Updated: Dec 30, 2022, 11:25 am
(Lopine "Chynna" Toilolo. Credit: Terrie Toilolo)
(Lopine "Chynna" Toilolo. Credit: Terrie Toilolo)
WEBER COUNTY – A West Jordan family is filled with questions and frustration after their daughter’s body was found under suspicious circumstances in Ogden Canyon. They say they tried to have her listed as a missing person before she was found, to no avail.
People who knew Chynna Toilolo say she had an amazingly big heart and she’d do anything to help the people she loved. Also, she loved social media.
Her mother, Terrie Toilolo says, “She’s a social media queen. She’d Snapchat every time. Her phone was always glued to her hand. She’s just the life of the party.”
(One of Chynna’s many Snapchat pictures, according to her family. Credit: Terrie Toilolo)
The last message Toilolo says she ever received from her daughter was a text saying she was coming home. That text was sent very early Sunday morning, but Toilolo says she heard nothing after that. That’s when she knew something was very wrong. She says they were especially concerned because Sunday was Mother’s Day, and Toilolo says Chynna never failed to reach out on that day.
“It was out of the ordinary and uncharacteristic of her. She always keep in touch with us,” Toilolo says.
By Monday, the Toilolo family tried to get the police to search for Chynna, but, they claim investigators wouldn’t classify the 30-year-old as “missing.”
“After I gave them the information, they said, ‘Well, it’s not enough to report a missing person. It hasn’t been a while and she’s not suicidal and doesn’t have medical issues, so, she’s not technically high-risk,’” she says.
They decided to take matters into their own hands. The family wasn’t able to ping the location of her cell phone, but, Toilolo says they were able to get her phone records and found she made several calls to one specific number. They also plastered Chynna’s pictures all over social media, hoping to generate any clues to her location.
(Close up of Chynna Toilolo. Credit: Terrie Troilolo)
However, Chynna’s body was found Tuesday evening near the 400 block of Ogden Canyon. Police say it’s a suspicious death but they haven’t released a cause. Toilolo says she was informed that her daughter’s body was found, but she didn’t hear any of the details until she watched a press conference on the news.
She says, “That evening, we heard the news reporting, ‘We found this suspicious and it was up the canyon.’ What? I still don’t know what happened.”
Members of a Facebook group say Chynna was last seen with an ex-boyfriend. Toilolo says she hopes police will be able to speak with people who live near him and piece together what happened to her daughter.
The family is hoping to have her memorial service on Monday.
