NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — SUNY Buffalo State College sophomore Saniyya Dennis has been missing for a week and a half. Her dad tells Spectrum News he is frustrated with the investigation into her disappearance.
What You Need To Know
- Saniyya Dennis was last seen on the campus of SUNY Buffalo State College on April 24
- Her father is frustrated with the investigation thus far
- He's been part of search parties to look for Saniyya
If you take a drive around Niagara Falls, you'll see flyers with pictures of the 19-year-old. You can find them all over — on parking pay stations, bus stop benches and light poles.
Saniyya Dennis was last seen on campus the night of April 24. Her phone last pinged to a cell tower near Goat Island in Niagara Falls in the early morning hours of April 25.
"I'm from Harlem, New York, and with that being said, I endured a lot of things coming up, mostly bad — nothing like this,” said Calvin Byrd, Saniyya's father.
Byrd describes this ordeal as a parent's worst nightmare.
"I'm really frustrated with the way this is being handled,” he said. “I want people to treat this like this is your kid. If your kid is missing, how many times are you going to accept no for an answer?"
Byrd believes his daughter took an NFTA bus to Niagara Falls the night she was last seen on campus and may have walked down Old Falls Street to get to Niagara Falls State Park.
He thinks if the businesses on Old Falls provide surveillance footage from that night, it could make a difference.
He's hoping whoever was on the same bus as his daughter would come forward as well.
"I was told that they went to visit these establishments and asked them something simple like, ‘let's see your camera footage’ and I heard they didn't get really good responses from it,” Byrd said. “Either it wasn't open, they don't have cameras, or they don't have working cameras. I find it really weird that nobody from the bus or who was driving the bus actually stepped up to say they have been on that route."
He tells Spectrum News he's been at search parties every day, hitting different parts of Western New York. When they searched in the Falls, he noticed a lack of a police presence.
"One clear observation was no cops,” he said. “You'll barely see a cop if you go there at night.”
He's hoping things can come together soon, because all he wants is to bring his daughter home.
"She deserves to have a full investigation where people are going hard to find my kid," he said.
New York State Park Police issued a press release Monday, saying:
"Since April 27, the New York State Park Police, in coordination with State Police, U.S. Border Patrol, Niagara County Sheriff’s Department, Ontario Canada Park Police and Buffalo State University Police, have conducted repeated foot searches of Niagara Falls State Park and Niagara River Lower Gorge for a missing Buffalo State University student.
Daily, New York State Park Police Officers have searched Goat Island, Prospect Park, Cave of the Winds, and the Maid of the Mist areas. A tracking bloodhound and two K9’s conducting article searches have been deployed. Three helicopter searches of the lower Niagara River also have been conducted. No evidence of the missing student has been located.
New York State Park Police remain available to assist in continuing efforts. Volunteer searchers are reminded to exercise caution in an area of natural hazards."