Coral Pearl Hall-Missing 15 Years

On September 22, 1998, 14 year old Coral Pearl Hall was taken by her friend, Melissa Pierce, to the Department of Human Services to report she was being abused and neglected. Coral had a rough life-her mother was ruled an unfit parent, and the identity of her father is unknown.  In 1996, Coral's mother, Sharon Jones, died of a drug overdose.
She was raised by her grandmother. Coral and her grandmother moved many times, and often relied on public assistance, like food stamps, to meet their needs. Growing up in poverty along with a lack of a support system, had been very difficult for Coral. Before she vanished, she was rebelling against her grandmother's rules, associating with drug users, along with being truant at school. Foster placement was being considered due to Coral missing a lot of school.
Later that night, on September 22, Coral contacted her friend Melissa again, from a pay phone near White Horse Tavern, which is located at Ann Arbor and West Court Streets. Coral mentioned she was having more trouble at home, and asked to stay at Melissa's house to escape Flint. At the time, Melissa was in a different part of the state, but she drove to Flint with her uncle to go get Coral. By the time they arrived, Coral had vanished.
Some accounts list she had vanished from her grandmother's apartment, after she went to go to a different apartment room in the same complex to give back a book she borrowed. Her maternal grandmother, Janish Hall, reported her missing.

White Tavern Horse, a restaurant that serves as a land mark of Coral's last known whereabouts.

Coral's birthday is September 21, 1984, and she was 14 years old at the time she vanished. Coral was 4'11" and weighed 85 pounds at the time she vanished. She had blond hair and blue eyes. She also has a round scar on the base of her neck at the front and her ears are pierced.
When Coral vanished, she was last seen wearing a gray and blue T-shirt. She had on blue jeans, white sneakers, and possibly Pooh bear earrings.

As of 2012, LE has claimed there have been individuals who have knowledge of where Coral is, and have been trying to mislead the investigation. Coral's entire disappearance is one that is very complex-although it seems she left of her own accord to escape troubles in Flint, one must not look at her as a rebellious, runaway teenager, but a girl who may have been in a bad situation, and needed help.
In 1998, Janish Hall reported to LE that two adult men living in home often talked about taking Hall to California, therefore it has always been thought Coral ended up in Los Angeles, California, accompanied by an adult male(s). Coral also has an aunt in California, and her half sister, who grew up separate from Coral (now from Georgia), believes Coral had made a phone call to her aunt 4 years ago, and hung up with out saying a word.

There have also been multiple sightings of Coral at a hotel with an adult man in Merrillville, Indiana, along with a younger girl who was thought to be a runaway from Columbus, Ohio. The hotel employee is convinced that the girl that was staying at the hotel was Coral Hall. There was also a possible sighting of Coral in Gary, Indiana at a discount store, made by a woman who has said Coral was there multiple times. This would have been about 10 miles north of the hotel she was reported at.

Coral called her friend, saying there was trouble at home, and she needed to leave.

My question is was Coral really leaving to return a book, or did she use that as a way to leave the apartment to contact her friend to help her? I wonder as I read about her story, if she vanished from the phone booth, or the apartment? And what was missing from the apartment that was hers? I'm sure there are a few select items any teenage girl would bring with, unless she was in immediate danger, to the point where she was afraid to wait for a ride or go back for some of her items.
Also, who were the men who lived with her grandmother? Relatives? Boyfriends? Friends? And although Coral may have felt neglected due to her rough life, there was also the issue of abuse. Just who was abusing her? Was it the men who would live there time to time? I have read that Coral is an intelligent girl, with a fiery temper, but that still doesn't account for her reporting abuse. What was happening to make her feel the need to not even wait for a ride? Did she decide to go back for some stuff to bring with, to meet someone bad along the way?
I know many go back and forth on if Coral is a victim of a predator, taken by someone she knew, or if she left on her own. I have researched the White Horse Tavern, which is a restaurant on 621 Court Street. Here is a link that marks the restaurant, and if you look at where West Court Street and Ann Arbor Street cross, that is where the pay phone was located. The restaurant was very close-and a young girl alone at night would be a target. It is absolutely possible someone she did not even know took her from that spot. It is possible someone she knew who did not want her to speak out followed her. And it is also possible she felt in so much danger that she had to leave immediately, and found her own ride. I wish I knew how long it took for her friend to drive, because then we would have a time frame. Also, could the consideration to put her in foster care been a factor in her decision to leave Flint? Did she leave the area at all?

The corner where Ann Arbor and W. Court Street intercept is where the pay phone was, and not too far from it, White Horse Tavern.

The theory I lean towards the most is that Coral's plans changed, whether she intercepted someone who made her an offer, or maybe she even called someone else, to help her leave Flint, or even the state. My concern would be the fact that she has stayed out of touch with her best friend, Melissa, along with her sister, which is said to be very uncharacteristic. I think a concern would be if she was forced into a human trafficking ring, as many young run away girls are nowadays. I think this is a very probable scenario. It sounds like the sighting of Coral in Indiana could be valid due to the same reports by different people. The fact she was seen with another possible run away (I think it would be a good idea to figure out who this girl is), and a man at a hotel, could be human trafficking to me. But would she keep out of touch?
I think there is a very good chance Coral is alive out there, possibly being held against her will. Most of the time, people do not think of teens who run away as endangered missing, because they leave of their own accord, but many times they run into danger. Many times in human trafficking, the people who have these girls threaten them in many ways to "keep them quiet", and make them stay by telling them they will be thrown in prison for whatever crime. These are controlling mind games that are played, and it could perhaps explain why a girl would not leave, or contact her family and friends to say "I'm okay."
 Coral seems like a tough girl that has been dealt with some rough cards in life. Her running away from home, skipping school, hanging with a bad crowd were all cries for help. I think Coral wanted to run somewhere to not only escape her troubles, but to find love, support, security and everything else she never got to have. I don't see this girl as a criminal run away, but as someone who is in danger, and needs help. I think there was something very wrong going on at home.



Age progression of what Pearl may look like today.

**UPDATE:  Janish Hall, the grandmother of Coral Hall, has been arrested for the disappearance and open murder of Coral. The boyfriend of Coral's grandmother that was living with them at the time has died, but they FINALLY have some answers now! For years, Janish had been accused of physical abuse and neglect towards Coral. There were also sexual abuse accusations from Coral against her mother's younger boyfriend. Throughout the years, Coral's grandmother's statements were always inconsistent. Even now it sounds like she keeps recanting her statements. According to MLive.com News, she told investigators she killed Coral with a hammer, then dismembered her with her boyfriend, and scattered her remains. Whether or not this is what actually took place, I KNOW they got the right person! Updated as of October 30, 2013 (from MLive.com by Ron Fonger), detectives believe more than one person knows where Coral's remains are, and they will not stop until they find her.
This is not the outcome I was hoping for. I had hoped Coral left and was having the time of her life somewhere out there. It is devastating to know someone so close to Coral, whom she trusted and raised her, would do this to her. It's so brutal. I am happy answers are here, because I pour through so many missing persons cases at night that have no answers decades and decades later. I get really sad when I read up on stories of persons and childrens still suspiciously missing from even the '50s and before that. All that time and all that pain. I'm glad Coral's loved ones will not have to deal with that!

 My prayers go out to all who love her and all who have searched for her. Please pray for her close friend Melissa, to have strength to go through the trial and bring justice to Coral. Hopefully Janish will give up what she did with Coral's remains so she can have a proper burial. She deserves that, and the family needs that as well. I have the news link below, where you can also watch the news clip. I will be keeping Coral's case entry up for any updates.

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Coral Pearl Hall, please contact:


Flint Police Department

1-810-766-7036

Sources:
Janish Hall Arrested for the Murder of Coral Hall:
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/08/detective_tells_judge_grandmot.html#incart_river_default
http://www.wnem.com/story/22979738/woman-charged-with-granddaughters-cold-case-disappearance?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9151392
Charley Project:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hall_coral.html
MLive: Michigan
2012: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/09/flint_detective_says_police_ha.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/09/missing_for_13_years_coral_hal.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2008/09/flint_michigan_ten_years.html
MLive Blog: Sightings of Coral Reported
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2008/04/sightings_of_coral_hall_missin.html
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/extra/2008/02/a_grandmothers_plea.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/10/flint_police_detective_believe.html#incart_river_default
NamUs
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/5406/9