YouTuber Ca'Shawn "Cookie" Sims Has Gone Missing After Revealing She Was Abused by Family
Published Oct. 6 2021, 3:37 p.m. ET
On Oct. 4, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shared a post to Facebook asking the public for help in locating missing person Ca’Shawn Ashley Sims. Ca' Shawn, who goes by "Cookie," was last seen on Sept. 8, in her neighborhood of Duarte, Calif. She runs the fitness channel Body By Cookie on YouTube, which has nearly 10,000 subscribers.
The 30-year-old Black woman is 5’1” tall and weighs approximately 120 lbs. She has black shoulder-length hair and brown eyes, as well as a few tattoos that may be helpful in identifying her. “It’s found in the soul” is inked on her left collarbone, “Earth” is inked on her left forearm, and there is a tattoo of Spanish writing on her back.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's Missing Persons Unit at (323) 890-5500.
Although Ca'Shawn was reportedly last seen on Sept. 8, two new videos appeared on her YouTube channel on Sept. 11. One video was a workout routine, but the other video revealed some shocking truths about the fitness influencer and her family. While it's unknown if Ca'Shawn uploaded these videos, or if they were posted by someone else on her behalf, the latter video provides substantial background information on Ca'Shawn's life, which could offer clues as to how she went missing.
Ca'Shawn revealed she was pregnant and was being abused by her family in her last YouTube video.
Ca'Shawn's last post to YouTube was a video titled "DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WHILE PREGNANT - TRIGGER WARNING ⚠." In the video, she reveals that after celebrating her birthday in Miami, Fla., she discovered she was pregnant. Her family, however, did not react kindly to the news.
Ca'Shawn explains that on July 3, she told her parents that she was expecting. After telling them, her dad "smashed my head" while her mom watched the attack and did nothing to help. What was even more heartbreaking is that the content creator said that this behavior was nothing new. Her dad has been abusive towards her since she was 16.
The day after the attack, Ca'Shawn said she briefly interacted with her father as he came to her room to offer her food. However, still alarmed by what had happened, she decided to stop speaking to him. A few weeks went by without contact. It is unclear if Ca'Shawn and her father live in separate homes, or if she just actively avoided him while under the same roof.
But on July 28, Ca'Shawn's father angrily knocked on her bedroom door after her sisters blamed her for leaving an outside door open overnight.
Ca’Shawn says she called the cops twice before opening the door. Once she opened it, he attacked her. He was "aggresive as f--k," she said, explaining that he was "literally pulling me around everywhere, pushing me into the table, threatening me with the 1800 alcohol bottle, [and] punching me in the face."
She puts her face up to the camera to show a swollen area, noting that her father also "gripped my head."
The cops showed up and broke up the dispute; however, Ca’Shawn expresses how frustrated she is by the lack of resources available to people in domestic violence situations. "You call the police station, [then] they have you call the courthouse, [then] they have you call the domestic abuse hotline and everybody just sends you in loops,” she says.
As she ends the video, she explains that she's still in pain from the attack. "My body's sore because I was literally tossed, pulled, and thrown to the ground by a grown-ass man who claims to be my f---ing father," she shared, adding that this is not how she intended to reveal her pregnancy to her fans. Instead, she made this video to shed a light on domestic violence.
"This is here so if something f--king happens to me, you guys know why," she says.
The video was posted after Ca'Shawn was reported missing, but it may not have been uploaded by her.
While "DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WHILE PREGNANT" was uploaded on Sept. 11, we know that the video was filmed the day after her last altercation with her father because Ca'Shawn notes the date is July 29. It is unclear why this video wasn't uploaded until September.
Ca'Shawn's family speaks out about her disappearance.
On Oct. 5, Ca'Shawn's sister, Cee Sims, posted a photo to Instagram regarding Ca'Shawn's disappearance.
"She has abandoned her home, her dog, and seemingly her phone, which is unlike her," Cee wrote alongside a carousel of photos of Ca'Shawn. "Our extended family (my grandad, aunts, and cousins) cannot reach her [and neither can] my middle sister, mom, [or] dad. She lives in Duarte, Calif. and there is no indication [as] to where she may have been headed after last leaving her home."
"I never thought there’d come a day of me posting a missing flyer for my sister," she continued. "We want her covered in prayers, God’s grace, and to know that she is whole, well, and alive."
Like the post shared by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the lead photo in Cee's Instagram noted that Ca'Shawn was last seen on Sept. 8. However, it's unclear why both the sheriff's department and Cee waited almost a month to post on social media about Ca'Shawn's disappearance.