Berry was last seen after completing her shift at the drive-through at a Burger King at West 110th and Lorain Streets in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked, at approximately 7:10 p.m. on April 21, 2003. She carried a black shoulder purse with her cellular phone inside it. Berry was planning to walk the three blocks to her home on west 111th Street, but when her sister called her cellular phone Berry said she had found a ride home. A witness said she had gotten into a large white older model four-door sedan with three male occupants, but this has never been verified.

Berry has never been heard from again. Many accounts stated she never arrived home, but one source quoted a police officer who said it was believed Berry had, in fact, arrived at her family's apartment. No one saw her, but she apparently changed clothes in her bedroom, because all the Burger King uniforms she owned were found in her bedroom. Her mother and sister went to the apartment at 8:00 p.m. and Berry was not there, so if she did arrive home she did not stay there long.

Berry had gotten upset at work that day and called her mother to talk about it, and when she did not come home her mother initially believed Berry was still upset and had gone to a friend's house to calm down. Berry's family reported her missing at 1:30 a.m. the next day, when she still had not arrived home. Messages left on her phone went unanswered. Her curfew was 11:00 p.m., and she had never missed it before.

A week after her disappearance, her mother got a phone call from a man who claimed to be holding her daughter and that she was safe. He said he was married to Berry and that her mother would see her in a few days. When Berry's mother asked to speak to her daughter, the man hung up. Berry's mother did not recognize the caller's voice, but she thought he was sounded like a young adult, between eighteen and thirty years old. He never called back and has never been identified. The call was traced to Berry's cellular phone. Because of this, authorities believe the caller had genuine knowledge of Berry's disappearance. It was determined that the call was placed somewhere near west 58th and Clark Streets.

Berry was having some personal problems at the time of her disappearance. She had found out her brother-in-law was having an affair, and her own boyfriend was seeing another girl, who planned to confront Berry on the day of her disappearance. In spite of this, however, Berry is not believed to have left of her own accord. She had a good relationship with her mother and had not mentioned any plans to leave. She left over a hundred dollars, and all her clothes and other possessions, back at her residence, and she had plans to celebrate her seventeenth birthday the next day. Berry disappeared just blocks from where another teenager, Georgina DeJesus, vanished in April 2004. DeJesus has not been found and police believe she may have been abducted, but they are not sure if her case is related to Berry's.

Berry was in the gifted program at John Marshall High School. She disliked the school and entered an online homeschooling program, where she excelled; she was on track for early graduation at the time of her disappearance. She is described as a religious teenager. Her hobbies include reading, shopping and rap music, particularly Eminem. She wanted to become a clothing designer when she grew up.

At the time of her disappearance, Berry lived with her mother, older sister and brother-in-law; her father lived in Tennessee. Berry's mother died in March 2006, almost three years after her disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.