Koya Sreeja Reddy, a 23-year-old woman from Shabdullapur village in Nalgonda district, Telangana, has been missing in Boston, USA, for four days. Police have not found her, and her family back home is pleading for help.

Sreeja is the only daughter of Koya Yadagiri Reddy and Roopa. She left for the United States about a year ago to pursue higher education. She is in the second year of an MS programme at a college in Boston and works a part-time job alongside her studies. Her course was due to finish in another six months.

She lives in the Dorchester area of Boston with eight other young women. On November 2, she returned to her room after attending college and finishing her part-time shift. That same day, her roommate’s friends were planning a birthday celebration, and Sreeja had said she would join them.

Instead, she stepped out at night, telling her housemates she would walk for a while and be back. She did not return. Her friends grew anxious as the hours passed, and they informed her parents and then filed a complaint with local police.

Last sighting and phone trail

According to information her family received, Sreeja was last seen at about 9:45 pm on November 2 near Edison Green. Her father, Yadagiri Reddy, said her cell phone signal could be picked up only within a radius of about half a kilometre after she left. After that, the phone was switched off.

“After she went out, the cell phone signal was available only up to about half a kilometre, and after that the phone was switched off,” her father Koya Yadagiri Reddy said.

Police registered a missing person case on November 3 and started a search. Officers focused on the area where she was last seen and the location of her phone, and reports say the search concentrated on Carson Beach and the Harbor Point area. Helicopters and drones were reportedly deployed along the coastline. Despite these efforts, there has been no trace of her so far.

A family pleading for help from Telangana

In Shabdullapur, the news has left her parents in tears. On Thursday, they travelled to Nalgonda to meet Telangana minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who was visiting the district. They asked him to help locate their daughter. The minister spoke with the concerned officials and sought details of the case.

The case has also reached Telugu families in the United States, who have voiced concern as the search continues. For a family in a Nalgonda village, the distance to Boston is measured in more than miles. Every hour without word from Sreeja adds to the fear that the family has been living with since Sunday night.

What remains unknown

Investigators have not publicly stated what led to Sreeja leaving her room or why her phone went dark. The reports available so far describe her as a student who planned to attend a friend’s celebration and who said she was only going out for a short walk. Nothing in the available account points to a clear explanation yet.

Her family, relatives and villagers are continuing to pray for her safe return. For now, the one clear demand is simple: find Sreeja Reddy and bring her home.