Disappearance of Arianna Fitts

Nicole Fitts, 32, and her 2-year-old daughter Arianna Fitts was reported missing in San Francisco on April 5, 2016. Nicole was last seen on April 1, 2016. Reports of when or where she was last seen are a bit confused.

Many sources say she was last seen or heard from leaving her home on April 1st to meet someone she knew. Who she was meeting is not known. However, police also think she traveled from her job at a Best Buy in San Francisco via the 3rd Street Metro line at around 9:45 that same night. A roommate she lived with at the time seems to have verified that Nikki was last seen leaving their house to meet someone the night of April 1st. Arianna Fitts, meanwhile, was last confirmedly seen sometime in February of 2016 in Oakland, though it is not clear by whom she was last seen.

Nicole, who went by Nikki, grew up the middle child of three sisters raised by a single mother. Nikki has been defined as shy and naive growing up but seems to have been an incredibly kind, compassionate, driven young woman. As a teenager, she volunteered often at Culver Slauson Recreation Center, and at just 15 obtained an award from the city of Los Angeles for her volunteer work.

In 2012, Nikki, her younger sister Tess, and Tess’s girlfriend moved into an apartment together in Pacifica. Not much has been said about her, but at some point in this period, Nikki had a daughter named Sendy. The three had a hard time affording their apartment, and when Tess and her girlfriend moved out, Nikki, pregnant with Arianna at the time, wound up in a women’s homeless shelter, while Sendy was sent to live with her dad. At this shelter, Nikki met and began a relationship with Lemasani Briggs, who invited Nikki to move in with her. Nikki originally paid Briggs rent and also paid her to watch Arianna while Nikki worked. Tess claims Briggs was taking benefit of Nikki, and eventually, Briggs’ nieces, Siolo Hearne and Helena Martin began babysitting Arianna. Others reportedly begged Nikki to find arrangements for childcare outside of Briggs’ family, and after Lemasani quit watching Arianna, she raised Nikki’s rent. In addition to this, Nikki had never been given a key to the apartment and was only able to get in when someone else was home. Tess and her girlfriend say Nikki’s relationship with Lemasani rapidly became quite abusive, with Nikki frequently receiving abusive and accusatory text messages. In November 2015, Tess and her girlfriend picked Nikki and Arianna up from Briggs’ apartment and drove them to Santa Cruz. After Nikki left, Lemasani allegedly continued to harass her, texting Nikki to ‘bring my baby back here.’

At this time Nikki was once again homeless, frequently sleeping on acquaintances’ couches and commuting from the Santa Cruz area to the SF Best Buy for work. At the same time, she was in the midst of a custody battle for Sendy, after CPS removed her from her father’s care, and would frequently have to travel to LA for court. Nikki would leave Arianna in the care of either Siolo or Helena while she worked and when she had to travel for her custody battle over Sendy. Eventually one of Nikki’s coworkers offered her and Arianna a place to stay. At this time, Siolo and Helena became hesitant to return Arianna to Nikki. In mid-March 2016 Nikki contacted them to pick up Arianna, only to be told the pair had allegedly taken Arianna to Disneyland, a fact Nikki was not told about beforehand. At this point, Tess and her girlfriend say they had not seen Arianna since February, and it is not known how long it had been since Nikki had last seen her.

On April 1st, Nikki spent the evening with a coworker after work, at some point withdrawing various hundred dollars from an ATM; she did not tell anyone what this was for. Later that night, her roommate says Nikki received a call from someone and left, claiming to be meeting someone at a nearby restaurant and saying she would return shortly. The roommate woke up the next morning to an empty house and had received a text overnight from Nikki asserting she was heading to Fresno with a friend named Sam. Her roommate had never previously heard of any friend named Samand was also confused as Nikki didn’t have a car to travel and meet anyone with. At 1:13 a.m. on April 2nd, Nikki posted to Facebook “Spending time with my 3-year-old needs this break.” This post was odd as Nikki was reportedly fanatical about correct grammar and spelling, and because Arianna was 2 and-a-half at the time, not three. Nikki failed to show up for work for the next several days.

When Tess and her girlfriend found out Nikki was gone, they instantly traveled to San Francisco and filed a missing person’s report. A gardener working the early morning shift on April 8th at John McLaren Park noticed an odd wood board with a ‘silver character’ painted on it behind some bushes and brush. Underneath this board was Nikki’s body, twisted in the fetal position in a shallow grave. The death has quickly ruled a homicide, though no details of certain injuries or the exact cause of death have been released. Search warrants were quickly executed for the homes of Siolo and Helena, though there was no sign of Arianna and police say the sisters were uncooperative. During the inquiry, it came to light that Helena had previously served six years in prison after murdering the father of her child at 18. Helena Martin and her husband Devin, along with Siolo Hearne, have been named persons of interest in the case. The Fitts family and Best Buy have both offered separate $10,000 rewards for data leading to Arianna being found. The Fitts case itself, along with media attention on the case, was likely impeded by what was a tumultuous year for the SFPD, which included multiple officer-involved shootings and the chief of police stepping down. In 2017, SFPD reported that they seized and searched a vehicle believed to be related to the case. Beyond that, there have been very few updates to the case in the past several years. Nikki’s murder remains unsolved. No one has been charged or imprisoned in the case. And little Arianna has never been found.

So what fate befell this mother and her young daughter? Why was a woman who was seemingly loved by almost everyone she came in contact with killed in cold blood? Where is Arianna Fitts today, and will she ever be found?