Boston police seek missing UMass student Sreeja Reddy Koya
Sreeja Reddy Koya, a 23-year-old student from Telangana, has been missing since leaving her Boston home for a walk on November 2. Her family says her phone remains switched off, and police are asking for information about her whereabouts.
Mariam Al Mansoori
The night she disappeared
Police placed Koya's last known departure from her home in Dorchester's Edison Green area at about 9:45 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2026. A missing-person complaint was filed on November 3, followed by a Boston Police Department public alert on November 4.
Her father, Koyya Yadagiri Reddy, said she had attended college and returned to her room before going out for a walk. He said she disappeared after walking about one kilometer and that her college had been notified. The Indian Express also reported that patrolling police officers had seen her walking barefoot after she left the apartment that night.
Koya's mother, Swaroopa Reddy, told The Indian Express that she last spoke with her daughter on November 2. During that conversation, Koya mentioned a birthday party at her residence and said she planned to eat and go to sleep early. Friends later told her mother that she had gone for a walk and had not come back.
Koya is from Shabdullapuram village in Kanagal mandal, in Telangana's Nalgonda district. She moved to the United States about a year and a half ago to study at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her father told The Indian Express that she had earned a BCom in Hyderabad before pursuing a master's degree in finance at UMass Boston. Indian media reported that she also held a part-time job.
Police and university descriptions
The police alert describes Koya as an Indian woman with black hair and a slim build, standing between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 5 inches tall. Police listed her clothing as a black jacket and blue jeans and said she might be in the Carson Beach or Harbor Point areas.
UMass Boston's notice gives a different description of her jeans, listing them as gray, and says she was wearing a black jacket and no shoes. The university said she may be experiencing a mental health crisis and is known to frequent Carson Beach and Harbor Point.
Search coordination and public tips
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Telangana's roads and buildings minister and the legislator representing Nalgonda, has asked Indian diplomatic authorities, the Ministry of External Affairs and Boston Police to help locate Koya. He also approached the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) about coordinating search efforts and appealed for cooperation in a post on X.
TANA's Krishna Prasad said the association was helping with the search alongside local officials, Koya's friends and others.
Anyone with information about Koya's whereabouts is asked to call 911 or District C-11 (Dorchester) Detectives at (617) 343-4335. Boston Police also accept anonymous tips at 1-800-494-8477, by texting "TIP" to 27463, or through the department's CrimeStoppers website.
