Braddock Carnegie Library’s art lending room may have held the area’s most diverse crowd Saturday night as people across ages, races and religions gathered to say “Tonee, come home.”

Tonee Turner, the library’s beloved ceramics teaching artist who also works as a full-time metal fabricator at Studebaker Metals in Braddock, has not been seen nor heard from since Monday.

“This room is a reflection of Tonee,” said Dana Bishop-Root, associate director of the library association and organizer of Saturday’s vigil. 

More than 100 people filled chairs, sat on the floor and stood in the doorway holding white candles and fresh-cut flowers in the same location where Ms. Turner’s own art exhibition titled “Breath of Light” was on display in March 2018.

Ms. Turner’s tearful family sat in the front row looking out on a network friends, co-workers and mentors who described Ms. Turner as “magnetic.”

A neighbor whom Ms. Turner, 22, of Hazelwood, sheltered for a month after a bad breakup stood up to share a few words. A family whom Ms. Turner helped with their children’s African education program delivered an invocation of peace. Children that Ms. Turner taught at a Spanish-language summer camp sat cross legged on the floor. A Catholic nun shared a Bible verse.

“I’m so grateful for all of you caring about my daughter,” said Ms. Turner’s mother Darlene Johnson, 47, of Turtle Creek. “A mother is always going to love her child, but [I] see so many people who love her. To be honest, I’m starting to think the worst because of the time that’s gone by without hearing anything [from her]. ... Today I walked on a bridge by myself just seeing what she might have saw.”

Ms. Turner was last seen around 6 p.m. at Dobra Tea in Squirrel Hill on Monday, according to family. Her belongings were found by a young cyclist on the Homestead Grays Bridge pedestrian walkway that evening and the man gave them to his father, Ms. Turner’s sister Sydnee Turner, 23, of Braddock, said. By Tuesday at 11:11 a.m., the man called Ms. Turner’s aunt to report the belongings, and the aunt received them at 11:47 p.m., Sydnee said.

“Tonee loses her phone frequently,” Sydnee said. “But we started to understand that [she] was a missing person around 8 p.m.”

Pittsburgh Police released a missing person alert and a photo of Ms. Turner Wednesday, asking the public to be on the lookout for a 5-foot, 2-inch woman who weighs 130 pounds and has chin length black hair.

As of Saturday night, police had no updates to share on the case, calling it an “active investigation,” said spokeswoman Cara Cruz.

Sydnee said she and friends have been busy spreading the news on Facebook, searching near the Monongahela River under the bridge and asking people to look “anywhere else around the world” for her sister. 

“I feel a tangible hope,” she said.

The family had raised nearly $8,000 as of Saturday night to help with search costs. 

 “Tonee’s still here. I feel it. We’re going to find her,” said Latika Ann, 27, a fellow teaching artist at the Braddock library. “ Tonee doesn’t deserve to be lost. Tonee keeps me happy even when I don’t want to smile. ... It’s like a part of the [library] family is missing.”

Ashley Murray: 412-263-1750, amurray@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @Ashley__Murray

First Published: January 5, 2020, 3:12 a.m.
Updated: January 5, 2020, 3:14 a.m.