(Updated on 08/21/2026 @ 3:20 p.m.)
Alisa Goods, a 63-year-old grandmother from New York City who disappeared while visiting Las Vegas earlier this month, has been found dead. The discovery brings a devastating conclusion to what her family had hoped would end differently.
“Our hearts are broken. We were notified that my aunt was found–unfortunately, not the way we wanted her to be. This is an unimaginable time,” a statement from Goods’ family obtained by NBC 4 New York read. Authorities are now investigating the circumstances of her death.
(Original story posted 08/18/2026 @11:54 a.m.)
Alisa Goods traveled to Las Vegas in early August to visit Roger John, a friend of nine years. On August 8, she left his apartment to catch a bus to a nearby CVS and never came back. Her family filed a missing persons report two days later, on August 10, after they couldn’t reach her.
What happened next deepened their concern. Days after filing the report, the family began receiving text messages from her phone number, but something felt off. The messages weren’t from Alisa.
John said he expected her to return quickly from her shopping trip. “Last I saw her, she was going down the stairs. And I said, ‘OK, see you later,'” he told Fox 8 News. He left the house about 15 minutes later. When he returned three hours later, she still hadn’t come home.
“I was like, ‘she should have been home already.’ I didn’t think much of it, because sometimes she’d go out and she’d shop. She stays out,” John said. “I kept texting and calling and texting and calling.”
Alana Calloway, Goods’ niece, described the suspicious texts that alarmed the family. She had texted the number asking for a callback because of an emergency with “mommy,” but the responses were evasive. “They kept putting it off and saying, ‘Now my card’s not working,'” Calloway told Fox.
The messages contained red flags. Someone claiming to be Alisa mentioned needing money, requested Bitcoin, and asked for gas money—despite the fact that Goods didn’t have a car in Las Vegas. At one point, the sender referenced someone named Kelly, a person the family said doesn’t exist among their relatives.
Keven Newton, Goods’ son, also received the suspicious messages. What should have been reassuring contact from her phone instead became another troubling sign that someone else might be in possession of it.
“Every time the person texts back, it just felt like my heart was in my stomach because I knew it wasn’t my aunt,” Calloway said.
The family’s desperate plea was simple: they wanted her home safe. “I want to know that she’s OK and that she is alive,” Calloway said. “She has a family that loves her, cares about her. We want her home and want her home safe and alive.”
Now, as authorities continue their investigation, that hope has been replaced by grief and unanswered questions about what happened in those final hours.
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