Cousins! West Memphis police officers have officially identified the body of a young woman who was recently reported missing following the night of her birthday!
According to Fox 13 News, the deceased body was discovered on Saturday September 23rd and was originally described by the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office as belonging to that of a Black woman.
The body was transferred from West Memphis to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s office in Little Rock where it was determined to belong to 21-year-old Tamia Taylor.
The examiner’s office has ruled that there was no foul play regarding Tamia’s death, however further accompanying details have been classified as undetermined.
Tamia was reported missing on September 10th as she is said to have disappeared while celebrating with her three friends on a Memphis riverboat cruise.
An obtained police report shows that Tamia’s mother Debra received text messages the night before she was reported missing, noting that she had made it to Memphis and that she was on a boat.
Sources state that the boat docked around 1:30 AM, and her friends told officials that Tamia wasn’t anywhere to be found and that the only trace of her was her abandoned cell phone.
The Riverboat company advised officers that the 21-year-old had made it back to the harbor in Memphis.
Debra tells local news that she believes her daughter’s proposed friends know what happened. “It would mean the world, even if we don’t get nothing but closure as to what happened. That would mean the world to me, her family,” she said.
Fox news reports that the Riverboat Cruises company has not responded to requests for updated comments surrounding the tragic incident. However, according to their website, all midnight booze cruises have since been canceled within the near future.
“She’s (Taylor’s mother) devastated. You have that type of hope that it’s not your loved one and you get the answer and it’s a different type of feeling. So right now, she’s overwhelmed and naturally (has) the feelings a mother would feel if they lose their daughter,” said Jasmine Ellis of the Dock Ellis Foundation, a nonprofit which assists families of minority victims who go missing.
Jasmine says tgatv law enforcement visited Tamia’s mother in-person to deliver the tragic news of a positive identification.
“When does the questioning begin?” Jasmine stated.
“When do we start peeling back the layers of the individual who said he saw her get off the boat? When do we peel back the layers of the friends who were on the boat? When do we peel back those layers even when Tamia’s mother has said, ‘If that’s my child, this takes this to another dimension,’ and we’re there now? We’re here today.”
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