Corinna Slusser is a young woman from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, who was last seen leaving the Haven Motel in Rego Park, Queens, in the early morning hours of September 20, 2017. She was 18 years old. Her disappearance is tied to sex trafficking in New York City, and one of her traffickers, Ishi Woney, is serving a 15-year federal sentence. As of May 2024, the NYPD’s investigation remains open and Slusser has not been found.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
From Bloomsburg to New York City
Slusser was born on October 6, 1998, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Bloomsburg, where she cheered and ran track at Bloomsburg Area High School. Her senior year fell apart. Beginning in September 2016, her grades dropped, she started skipping school, and a week before her 18th birthday she was arrested for shoplifting. She left high school in January 2017 for an online charter program but never earned a diploma.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
In April 2017, she attempted suicide by swallowing 50 acetaminophen pills and was hospitalized at Geisinger Medical Center before being transferred to a psychiatric unit. She had been diagnosed with depression.2Charley Project. Corinna Paige Slusser By June she had moved in with a friend in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and was working at an Applebee’s. After a dispute over rent, a man reportedly picked her up with a promise to buy her new clothes. On August 19, 2017, she posted on Facebook that she was in Brooklyn.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
Her family believes she was lured to the city by Yhovanny Peguero, then 32, who offered her a place to stay. She told her mother, Sabina Tuorto, that she had found a job in “payroll” and was looking for a studio apartment. On August 25, 2017, she called 911 from the Harlem Vista Hotel and told police that Peguero had stolen $300 from her and assaulted her, identifying him as her pimp. Peguero was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, harassment, and criminal obstruction of breathing, and a temporary order of protection was issued for Slusser. NYPD detectives later told her family they believed she had “changed hands through pimps several times.”2Charley Project. Corinna Paige Slusser3NBC News. Pennsylvania Teen Corinna Slusser Feared Victim of New York City Sex Trafficking
By early September 2017, she had met Ishi Woney, an aspiring rapper. Between September 10 and September 20, the two exchanged more than 800 text messages. According to the federal criminal complaint, Woney bought online prostitution ads featuring Slusser and at least one other woman, using promotions such as a “two girl special.”4Daily Mail. Mother of Corinna Slusser Shares Heartache
The Last Day She Was Seen
Slusser was last seen leaving the Haven Motel at 68-05 Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park, Queens, during the early morning of September 20, 2017. Prosecutors believe Woney was with her at the motel that morning. Law enforcement later told her mother that the motel had no working surveillance cameras at the time.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
Between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. that day, she called her mother and said she wanted to come home. At 7:04 p.m., she sent Peguero a Facebook message asking to see him and saying she had been left at a motel “with no money and food.” At 10:34 p.m., Peguero tried to call her. She did not answer. No further confirmed contact from her has ever surfaced.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
Charley Project records note that Woney later claimed the two had argued on September 20 and that he planned to take her to another hotel and turn her over to another man.2Charley Project. Corinna Paige Slusser Sabina Tuorto filed an official missing persons report with the Montour Township Police Department on October 2 or 3, 2017. The NYPD emailed Slusser about the report on October 19 and received no response. The department’s Vice Enforcement Squad opened an investigation, treating the case as a possible sex trafficking matter.5QNS. Missing Young Woman Last Seen at Rego Park Hotel May Be Sex Trafficking Victim
The Federal Trafficking Case Against Ishi Woney
On October 31, 2018, the FBI arrested Woney in New York City. He was charged in the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking by force, threats, fraud, and coercion; use of an interstate facility to promote prostitution; and violation of the Mann Act.6NBC New York. New York City Man Accused of Sex Crimes in Connection With Missing Woman7U.S. Department of Justice. Individual Arrested for Sex Trafficking and Other Offenses in Connection With Missing Person
Prosecutors alleged that starting around September 2017, Woney used force and coercion to compel at least one other victim, identified in court papers as “Victim-1,” into prostitution in the Bronx and elsewhere, transporting her across state lines and buying online ads featuring both her and Slusser. NYPD undercover officers found one such ad, arranged a meeting with the second victim at a Bronx hotel, and arrested her; she identified Woney as her pimp and confirmed she gave him all her earnings.4Daily Mail. Mother of Corinna Slusser Shares Heartache
In May 2019, Woney pleaded guilty to four of five charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. On November 26, 2019, Judge Lorna Gail Schofield sentenced him to 180 months in federal prison, all counts running concurrently, with eight years of supervised release on the sex trafficking and Mann Act counts.8CourtListener. United States v. Woney He is being held at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, with an expected release date of November 28, 2031. At sentencing, Tuorto asked Woney where her daughter was; he answered that he did not know whether Slusser was alive.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
No one has been charged with causing Slusser’s disappearance. Woney’s conviction concerns his trafficking conduct, not her fate.
Others Prosecuted Around the Case
Yhovanny Peguero was later convicted on drug and prostitution charges and was sentenced on October 25, 2021, to two to five years in state prison at Bare Hill Correctional Facility, with release eligibility as of October 2, 2023. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told Montour Township police that Peguero may have been holding Slusser against her will. Marcus McWright was convicted of promoting prostitution in February 2020; prosecutors tied him and Peguero to a prostitution operation involving Slusser. McWright was released from prison on March 26, 2020.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
What Investigators Have Found
The FBI joined the investigation in the spring of 2018. Agents raided the room where Slusser had been staying and confirmed her phone was last pinged in Jamaica, Queens. The bureau took a DNA sample from Tuorto but did not share specific findings with the family. In April 2018, someone tried to extort $7,500 from Tuorto, claiming to be holding Slusser in Greensboro, North Carolina; the NYPD advised her it was likely a scam.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
An anonymous letter received in 2018 claimed Slusser was seen on September 26, 2017, near 67th Road in Queens, six days after her last confirmed sighting. On November 13, 2021, unexplained activity was detected on her social media accounts. Tuorto said she was not the one accessing them, and the source of the activity is unknown.2Charley Project. Corinna Paige Slusser
Current Status and How to Report Information
Slusser’s case is classified as an endangered missing person. As of May 2024, the NYPD said the investigation is ongoing but declined to comment further.1ABC7 New York. Corinna Paige Slusser Full Episode
She is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has pierced ears, a tattoo on her right hip, and a large black flower tattoo in the center of her chest. She may use the name “Carissa.”2Charley Project. Corinna Paige Slusser Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Missing Persons Squad at 212-694-7781.