Atlanta College Student Missing: Alexis Jones-Rhodes, 22, Disappears Before Graduation Ceremony

An Atlanta college student missing has authorities conducting a frantic search for the young woman who wasn’t at her graduation ceremony Monday night.

Alexis Jones-Rhodes, 22, disappeared on her way to graduation. Her large family grew extremely worried when she didn’t receive her diploma at the ceremony.

DeKalb County Police are still searching for Jones-Rhodes. The Clark Atlanta University student mysteriously vanished between 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. after leaving her home in Decatur. She was to check in for graduation at 6 a.m. According to the school, Jones-Rhodes wasn’t eligible to graduate this semester in her fashion merchandising major. Her name wasn’t even on the commencement list and she didn’t sign in for graduation. Monday morning, the New York Daily News learned from Donna Brock, the school’s associate vice president for strategic communications and university relations. Moreover, there’s no record of the missing Atlanta college student purchasing a cap and gown.

Still, the student’s parents, and about 40 other family members, attended the graduation ceremony Monday night. They believed she was graduating that evening.

As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution further reports, the Clark Atlanta University student left home in her 2006 Hyundai Accent. Her father, John Rhodes, spoke with the news source.

“We just hope she’s in a safe place and that things turn out OK. You have to hold out hope,” John Rhodes tells the AJC.

Rhodes adds that his daughter is “a great kid, a sweet girl. Really talented and smart and gentle. A hard worker. There’s no one who comes across her who isn’t touched by her.”

The ordeal has taken its toll on the missing student’s father. He said it feels like it’s been “two weeks” since she disappeared.

Nicole Johnson, Jones-Rhodes mother, was on 11 Alive, pleading for her daughter to come home.

The family is firm on holding out hope that this young woman is somewhere safe and it’s just a matter of time she returns.

Alexis Jones-Rhodes is said to be 5-foot-5-inches tall and weighs 127 pounds. She’s a 22-year-old African-American who was last seen wearing a white dress. Her last location was at home on 1612 Twin Falls Road. The police asks anyone with information about the Atlanta college student missing to call them. They also want to hear from anyone having contact with her, or know anything about her car. The Georgia license plate number on the Hyndai is BPC6177.

To reach authorities in this missing case, the number to call is 770-724-7710, or 911.

[Photo Credit: NY Daily News]