A young woman goes missing under unusual circumstances; her family is still searching for answers

23 year old Darian Michelle Hudson was a young woman who was making plans. In the year before her disappearance, she had suffered a miscarriage, a breakup, and the loss of her beloved pet dog Zigg. But despite these setbacks, Darian was determined to find a silver lining. On October 21, 2017, she called her mother Stephanie Hudson to announce that she wanted to leave Stillwater, OK where she was currently living, and move back to her parents' home in Wichita, KS. She planned to enroll in nursing school and hoped to save money by moving back home. Her family was delighted she was thinking of moving home, and since she didn’t drive, they were happy to arrange to pick her up the following weekend.

The day Darian went missing

On October 22, Darian failed to show up for her job at Chili's which was unlike her - she was very reliable. On October 25, her friends began to call and text Stephanie that they could not contact Darian. The following day, Stephanie and the family drove to the Stillwater Police Department to file a missing person's report on Darian. However, they were told they'd have to wait 48 hours, so the actual incident report was not filed until October 28, 2017. When the family arrived at her duplex apartment on the 500 block of West Fifth Street, they were alarmed to find the door open, lights on, and dishes in the sink, but her cell phone was left behind.

Once Darian was confirmed as a missing person on October 28, Stillwater PD began to investigate the incident and was able to rule out everyone close to her. Since she did not own a car, they checked records from public transportation, and it was confirmed that Darian did not use public transit. Their first break came in early December of 2017 when police were notified of a man attempting to use Darian’s debit card at a hotel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He claimed he’d found the card in a purse hanging off a concrete sewage pipe back in October at the site of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, at the intersection of McElroy Road and Country Club Road, which was under construction. Several workers remembered seeing a woman fitting Darian’s description sitting in a wooded area just south of the construction site on October 26, appearing blank and unresponsive. The last known sightings of Darian are on the same day by a neighbor of the church property who said he saw her speaking to his grandchildren, but she was gone by the time he got there. The final sighting of Darian was by someone who said she was sitting on construction equipment on the evening of October 26, looking like she was waiting for a ride. She is reported to have been wearing blue jeans and a white tee-shirt, and some sources indicate she may have been wearing a dark coat.

Where the case stands today

On December 4, 2017, police searched the wooded area for Darian for two days, finding only some of her belongings, including a hooded sweatshirt and a wallet with her identification and credit cards in the pocket. Unfortunately, this was the last information uncovered about Darian’s case. There have been no further sightings of Darian or clues to her whereabouts. Her social media and bank accounts have been untouched since the day she disappeared. The Stillwater Police Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Unit collaborated to feature Darian’s case on a Cold Case Playing Card deck to be distributed to jails and prisons, in hopes that an inmate may come forward with information about Darian’s case. So far there have been no new leads, though law enforcement confirms her case is still open and active.

Darian is a light-skinned Black woman with black hair and brown eyes. She is 5'3", 120 lbs. and is nicknamed D and D-baby by friends and family. She has both ears and her nose pierced, and a tattoo of a large feather with 5 birds and the words "Birds of a feather flock together" written in script on the back of her right arm. Her family and friends are concerned she may have undergone a mental health crisis and been rendered helpless, and that foul play may have been involved in her disappearance.

If you know anything about the disappearance of Darian, please contact the Stillwater Police Department at (405) 742-8327.