Family of Influencer Reyna Dunlap Challenges Cause of Death (Exclusive) 

Karen Reyna Dunlap had dreams of becoming famous, but those dreams ended when her body was found in an abandoned house in Cleveland, Ohio in January.

Now, several months later, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office has released its final autopsy and toxicology reports after numerous inquiries from Dunlap’s family and from Urban Hollywood 411.

The autopsy report lists the cause of death as “systemic thrombophilia of unconfirmed etiology with cerebral, pulmonary, and renal involvement,” meaning she had blood clots in her brain, lungs and kidneys; however, the medical examiner was unable to establish what caused the clots. Her manner of death was ruled “natural.”

Reyna’s heartbroken mother, Karen Jones, and her sister, Kira Dunlap, have doubts.

Related: Zeus Network Issues Statement on Influencer Reyna Dunlap’s Death

In an exclusive interview with Urban Hollywood 411 via Zoom, the family said they believe something nefarious happened to the 30-year-old social media influencer. They are questioning the handling of the investigation into Reyna’s death.

“Because she’s a young Black female, there’s no pursuit in this, even though everything points to foul play,” said Jones. “The responding officers could see there was no [drug] residue, no track marks on her. They actually put that in their police report, yet they dismissed it as a Jane Doe drug overdose.”

Last week, the Cleveland Police Department told Urban Hollywood 411 the department is no longer pursuing the case.

“An autopsy ruled this death was from natural causes — therefore [it’s] not a criminal investigation,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

The family wants answers. “It’s very suspicious that she died from a stroke,” said Kira Dunlap.

“When we asked the medical examiner about what could have caused a stroke, because we don’t have a history of stroke in our family or blood clots in our family, [the coroner] said that a contributing factor could have been starvation, malnutrition and severe dehydration,” she stated.

The autopsy noted that Reyna had no solid food in her stomach when she died. There were no drugs in her system except nicotine, and “no needle tracks” on her body. The autopsy confirmed she did not have cancer or an infection.

Shockingly Low Weight
The coroner’s report noted that she weighed just 101 pounds at the time of death. Six weeks earlier, she visited Cleveland Clinic for some type of health issue and weighed 145 pounds, the medical examiner wrote in the autopsy report after reviewing her medical records.

Reyna’s family suspects she was held against her will, denied food and water.

“She lost 40 pounds from when she was previously seen, which I think highly indicates that she was severely starved and dehydrated,” said Kira Dunlap.

Reyna was known to her followers on the X platform as “The Nude Queen.” She had striking looks. Her videos on Instagram showed off her bubbly personality, but she could be outspoken online and sometimes courted controversy.

“Regardless of how people may have felt about her online persona, she was a sweet person. If you knew her, you loved her,”  Jones said.

Frantic Search
Reyna lived in College Park, Maryland. Family members in Maryland lost contact with her in November 2024, although she continued to post on social media until early January 2025.

“She was on social media up until January 2nd, and then there was silence,” said Jones.

As her family grew increasingly concerned, Kira posted a tearful video on TikTok asking for help locating her missing sister. The post went viral and generated leads.

Family members learned Reyna had been spotted in Cleveland. They believe she traveled to Ohio in hopes of being cast on the Zeus Network reality series, Baddies Midwest.

While Reyna was believed to have known people affiliated with the show, Zeus Network told us she did not formally audition for the program.

“The network held auditions for Baddies Midwest in Detroit in August 2024 and traveled the Midwest area with a stop in Cleveland [at the] top of October 2024 – but did not hold auditions in Cleveland,” a network rep said in a statement. “Thus, this young lady’s death is not affiliated with the network as she died months after the network visited Cleveland. She was not cast in the series and the network did not meet with her.”

Mysterious Strangers
Family members believe she came into contact with unsavory people as her money ran low. Reyna’s mother and sister have learned she was staying with someone she barely knew.

“We don’t personally know these people. And Reyna really didn’t know these people, either,” Jones said. “She came into contact with the people that we know were the last ones to be seen with her.”

The family managed to communicate with one of the last people to see Reyna alive.

“He indicated he saw her sitting outside, dressed inappropriately for the weather, and offered to give her help and a place to stay so that she wouldn’t be on the streets. I guess he thought she was on the streets,” said Jones.

Asked why the man did not provide more information, Reyna’s mother said, “We don’t believe the account from the person, from this particular person.”

On Jan. 16, Reyna was found deceased in an abandoned house in Cleveland. Authorities were initially unable to identify her body. The preliminary autopsy report listed her as “Black Female Unidentified.” The medical examiner used fingerprints to figure out who she was.

Initial Police Findings
“This incident is believed to be an overdose,” a spokesperson with the Cleveland Police Department told local news outlet Cleveland Scene in January.

Reyna’s mother said all along her daughter did not use hard drugs, which the autopsy confirmed.

“I was adamantly certain that my daughter did not have anything to do with drugs… and I made that clear to the police,” said Jones. “When I went to examine that and question that a little more, I was told that’s what they do when someone’s found in an abandoned house.”

Her mother believes race played a role in the police department’s initial assessment.

“They had no reason to believe, other than making an assumption, that finding a dead young Black female in an abandoned home, that she was a drug overdose,” Jones said.

Family members traveled to Cleveland and recorded video of the interior and exterior of the dilapidated house where Reyna’s body was found.

Inside the House
Outside, snow covered the ground. Inside, the house was filled with broken furniture, slabs of wood, shattered glass, cardboard boxes, and empty Styrofoam food containers. The family’s video showed what might best be described as a house of horrors.

Kira doubts her sister would have willingly entered the filthy house.

“She didn’t have any shoes on, and her stuff was tossed outside in the garage, so she couldn’t have walked there by herself without any sort of abrasions on her feet,” Kira said.

The medical examiner confirmed to the family that there were no abrasions on Reyna’s feet.

Reyna’s mother told us she got a tip that someone may have tried to hide Reyna’s body in the vacant house.

“I’m going to provide some information that was provided to me… ‘The choice of the vacant house in that area for staging of the body would have required a deep local familiarity with that area,’ suggesting maybe a Cleveland native or someone with active ties or that is in that area,” she said.

After viewing pictures provided by the coroner, Kira described the location of Reyna’s body inside the house.

“She was found on the bed. And then she had what looked like cardboard paper, or brown paper that was around her and a blanket, kind of shielding over the top of her head where she was found, kind of like as if somebody unwrapped her, which was very suspicious,” Kira recalled.

“It was very much a place that I don’t think anybody would normally go,” she added.

There were needles and drugs on a dresser near Reyna’s body, the police report said. Officers wrote in the report that there were no signs of foul play.

Was Race a Factor?
Reyna was clothed in pants, a T-shirt, and sweatshirt — all size extra-large, much too big for her small frame. She was missing underpants, a bra, socks and shoes, deepening the mystery surrounding her death.

The family believes if Reyna had blonde hair and blue eyes, the police department would have done more to find out what happened to the influencer.

“In cases where the victim does not look like Gabby Petito or Natalee Holloway, they don’t get the same media coverage or the attention, and thus don’t get the pressure on the police to solve the case,” said Jones.

As they search for answers, the family is offering a $10,000 reward. They would also like to raise additional funds for a private autopsy and to hire a private investigator in Cleveland. They set up a GoFundMe page for help.

“If you know anything, or you’ve seen anything, or you were present during what happened to Reyna, I encourage you to please come forward,” Kira said.

Anyone with legitimate tips can contact Cleveland PD’s homicide tip line at (216) 621-1234, or the medical examiner’s office on its reviewer line at (216) 721-5610.

“Our family deserves peace and rest, and I think that what happened to Reyna needs to be spoken about, and it needs to be solved,” said Kira. “I know that there are people that know exactly what happened to her.”

Editor’s note: Anita Bennett is publisher of Urban Hollywood 411. She previously worked for “True Crime News” and earlier this year began looking into Reyna’s death for the television show.