'Is Mom Coming?' Weeks After Mich. Mom Vanished, Her 7-Year-Old Son 'Doesn't Understand' Why She's Not Home (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ashley Elkins Missing poster (left); and Ashley Elkins.Photo:BAMFI;missingpeopleinamerica.org

BAMFI;missingpeopleinamerica.org

While a Michigan family continues its relentless search forAshley Elkins, who has been missing for weeks, her youngest son doesn’t understand why his mom hasn’t come home.

Elkins, 30, was last seen on Jan. 2 in her Warren, Mich., home, local police said in a statement.

Elkins, who operated a hairstyling business in her home, is known for her dedication to her 7-year-old and 10-year-old sons. She vanished on Jan. 2 after leaving home to run errands — and when nobody had heard from her for hours, it was an immediate red flag, her sister Alexis Elkins tells PEOPLE.

“[Even] if she was planning to be gone for a long time, she would have called,” Alexis says. “She knows that her boys expect to hear from her.”

Now, nearly four weeks since her disappearance, Elkins' younger son still doesn’t understand why she isn’t home.

“He’s still asking for her,” Elkins' mother Monika Elkins tells PEOPLE. “[We] came back from the vigil, he [said] ‘Is mom coming out? Is she, is she gonna call?’

Ashley Elkins and her 2 sons.Alexis Elkins

Alexis Elkins

“He doesn’t understand at all,” Monika says.

“He still thinks mom’s coming home every, every day. He’s like, ‘Where’s mom? Where’s mom?'” Elkins’ uncle Maurice Morton tells PEOPLE.

Her older son, who is 10, is having difficulty processing her disappearance.

“He cries every day. He has nightmares,” Morton says. “It’s been very difficult for both of them in different ways.”

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Meanwhile, police and Elkins' family continue their search. On Jan. 13, law enforcement officials searched a landfill looking for Elkins' body, Roseville police Chief Mitch Berlin told the media at the time, perThe Detroit Newsand theAssociated Press. No body was found.

The investigation is ongoing. Elkins' family has set up aGoFundMeto assist with her sons' care.

source: people.com