Setina Princess Weddles disappeared from Stockton, California with her brother, Ren. On January 4, 2018, the twins, their three older siblings, and their parents, Aaron Ivan Weddles and Princess Dara Canez-Walker, were reported missing from Stockton, California.
Five days later, the police located Aaron, Princess, their four-year-old daughter and their two-year-old twin girls inside their white 2002 Suzuki SUV at the intersection of Trinity Parkway and McAuliffe Road in the in Pixley Slough area of Stockton. Setina and Ren were not with them and could not be located.
The family was homeless and had been living out of the car in “deplorable” conditions. The vehicle was full of garbage, there was suspected mold growing in the interior, and there were several weapons present, including pocket knives, an ax and a machete, as well as bags of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Similar: 4-Year-Old Jaquilla Scales Disappeared from Her Out of Bedroom in 2001
The children were taken into protective custody and placed in the care of Child Protective Services (CPS). (Princess’s three older children, whose father is her former husband, had already been placed in CPS care.) Aaron and Princess were arrested. Aaron was facing outstanding charges of drug and drug paraphernalia possession and traffic violations, Princess was facing an outstanding charge of felony vandalism, and both were charged with child endangerment.
After Ren and Setina were born on April 7, 2016, the nurse in charge of their care notified CPS that both parents were “unfit to take possession of the children” and that the twins were never taken to their scheduled wellness checkups, but they were not removed from their parents.
During the summer of 2016, when the family was living in a public housing project on Flint Avenue and housing authorities began eviction proceedings, Princess was officially listed as living there with four children, not five, and Aaron was not listed as a resident.
Similar: 7-Year-Old Brittany Renee Williams Still Missing from Virginia
They refused to tell police where their youngest two children were; Aaron said only, “Do your jobs, that’s what you’re getting paid for.” When authorities reached out to Stockton’s homeless community, nobody could recall having seen the twins either. In fact, neither of them had been seen for months, possibly over a year, prior to their reported disappearances.
Princess told the police her children were “possibly kidnapped” but she wasn’t sure when this had happened and she hadn’t reported it at the time. Aaron eventually stated the last time he saw Ren or Setina was on the night of May 13, 2016. He said that after placing them in their crib, he walked outside and was shot multiple times by an unknown assailant. Aaron was seriously injured in the shooting and was in critical condition for a time. No one was ever charged in connection with it, however.
Similar: Sheriece and Joanna Clark Disappeared from Maryland on the Same Day
Before the twins were even discovered to be missing, in December 2017, an inmate told authorities that one of Aaron’s children may have been killed on the night Aaron was shot. The inmate stated Aaron cried when he talked about the shooting and spoke about his son, indicating the child died on the night of the shooting and Aaron buried him. The inmate thought Aaron had either killed his child accidentally during the shooting, or the child was shot by the person who shot Aaron.
Ren would have been five weeks old on the night Aaron was shot, and he hasn’t been seen since around that time period. One of Princess’s cousins stated she asked about Ren’s whereabouts in 2016 after she didn’t see him for several weeks, and Princess told her, “He was killed in a shootout and Aaron put him in a blanket and put him in the freezer.” The cousin said, “What did you say?” and Princess replied, “Oh nothing. He is in the hospital.”
The family was evicted from their Flint Avenue apartment on June 21, 2016 and began living in their car. One of the children’s aunts stated she last saw Setina a few months later, and when she asked Princess where she was, Princess said Setina was with Aaron’s family. When the aunt asked Setina’s older sister where Setina was, the child said, “Oh, she’s gone. She goes bye bye.”
Similar: Zaela Walker Was Last Seen Alive in 2018
Both Aaron and Princess have a history of drug abuse and Princess has a history of mental illness. She has been declared incompetent to stand trial on the charges against her, and is Napa State Hospital getting psychiatric treatment so her competency can be restored.
Authorities dug holes in the backyard of a residence on Flint Avenue, trying to find Ren’s body, but the search turned up no evidence. Both the twins’ parents are facing eight felony counts of willful cruelty to a child with possible injury or death.
Although Ren and Setina’s date of disappearance is listed with many agencies as January 4, 2018, when they were 20 months old, circumstances indicate they went missing at different times and much earlier than the official date.
August 21, 2016, is the estimated date of Setina’s disappearance. Investigators are still trying to determine their whereabouts and fate.
Investigating Agency: Stockton Police Department 209-937-7911
Tell us your thoughts...