Police investigate Geneva woman's disappearance

Police said Friday they could not rule out the possibility of foul play in a Geneva woman's disappearance 10 days ago.

Mia B. Hays, 20, was last seen at 1:17 a.m. Sept. 23 at a Greyhound Bus terminal at 630 W. Harris St. in Chicago, several hours after her mother expected her home.

"Mia would not do something like this on her own," her mother, Camille Spillone, said Friday. "She has a 2-year-old daughter. She would not just take off."

Spillone said the last time she spoke with her daughter, about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22, Hays told her she was on her way home from a house cleaning job at the home of a St. Charles man she met recently.

She never made it home, and instead was last seen on video at the Chicago bus station.

Spillone said information she has received indicates the St. Charles man took her to the station and then claims to have left her there. A Greyhound ticket purchased in her daughter's name never was used or refunded. Hays left her cell phone behind.

"It doesn't make any sense," Spillone said. "Why would someone take her to Chicago when there is a Greyhound station in Aurora?"

Those are the kinds of questions police say they're trying to answer by assigning an investigator full time to the case.

Geneva Police Cmdr. Julie Nash said authorities do not necessarily believe foul play was involved, but so far have been unable to prove otherwise.

"As a grown adult, she does not have to come home," she added. "But she told her mom she would, and the fact that she hasn't come home is enough to warrant us being concerned."

Hays is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs about 115 pounds and has brown eyes and straight brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black sweater, white shirt, shorts and black boots, police said.

Nash declined to comment on whether Hays had ever gone missing before. She said the investigator interviewed Hays' family and friends, but no one has explained why she went to the bus terminal.

Spillone described her daughter as "very young minded and too trusting" and said it is not in her character to just pick up and leave without telling anyone. Since giving birth to her daughter, Hays has gone out for a night only about five times, Spillone said.

"I've got a lot of questions and nobody has any answers," she said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call to call police at (630) 232-4736.