Sunny Jone Sramek

• Missing Since 04/20/2019
• Missing From Trenton, Nebraska
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 02/23/2001 (23)
• Age 18 years old
• Height and Weight 5'7, 183 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A black tank top and denim shorts. Also carrying a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.
• Associated Vehicle(s) White 2004 Ford Explorer with the Iowa license plate number HGJ341 and a black rim on the back passenger side wheel
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Sramek has a tattoo of a tribal sun in red ink on her right ankle, and a tattoo of a feather with the word "FLY" on her left shoulder; a photo of the shoulder tattoo is posted with this case summary. She had cuts on her arm at the time of her disappearance. Sramek has multiple scars on her body, including a rectangular scar on the back of her right shoulder, a small square scar in the center of her forehead, chicken pox scars on her face, scars on her shin and ankle from a bike accident, and a scar on her left hand at the base of her thumb and forefinger. Her ears and nose are pierced. Sramek may use the last name Straub.

Details of Disappearance

Sramek disappeared from Trenton, Nebraska on April 20, 2019. She left with a male acquaintance, Floyd Clifford "Cliff" Coates Jr., in a white 2004 Ford Explorer with the Iowa license plate number HGJ341 and a black rim on the back passenger side wheel, allegedly en route to Omaha, Nebraska, 300 miles away. They planned to pick up Coates's niece there.

Sramek called her mother from a borrowed phone at 12:45 p.m. and said she was in Holdrege, Nebraska. She didn't indicate that anything was wrong. Her family never heard from her again.

Coates has told multiple stories about Sramek's disappearance. According to one of his accounts, they went to the Prairie Flower Casino in Carter Lake, Iowa between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, and he went inside the casino. Sramek couldn't go with him because she was underage; the minimum age for casino gambling in Iowa is 21.

He said when he returned to the vehicle, Sramek was gone. He stated he looked around in the area for her, but couldn't find her, so he simply left without informing police or anyone else that she was missing.

Later, Coates changed his story and said Sramek disappeared when they stopped at an unspecified Omaha gas station to refuel. He said he went inside to pay for the gas, and when he came back she was gone. As with his casino story, Coates said he left without informing anyone that Sramek was missing.

A photo of Coates is posted with this case summary. It's worth noting he has an extensive record with convictions in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, for drug- and weapons-related offenses, battery, false imprisonment, theft and other offenses.

In May 2024, he and another man, Dennis Lawson, who has been in prison since 2021, were charged with evidence tampering and physically intimidating another person. Coates was also charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of ammunition by a felon and a drug user and possession of a firearm by a felon and a drug user and an armed career criminal.

The weapons charges stem from items found while police were executing search warrants on Coates's home and vehicle in connection with Sramek's disappearance: they found ammunition in Coates's closet and a handgun and two loaded magazines inside a safe in one of Coates's vehicles. Due to his criminal history he is prohibited from possessing guns or ammunition.

The indictment states Coates and Lawson altered, destroyed, mutilated and concealed objects "to impair their integrity and availability" for use in an official proceeding, but the court documents do not say whether this evidence tampering and witness intimidation are related to Sramek's disappearance.

At the time of her disappearance, Sramek was living with her mother and working on getting her GED. She was separated from her husband, who is not believed to have been involved in her disappearance.

Sramek has never been heard from again. The circumstances of her disappearance are unclear, but her family believes she met with foul play.