Found Deceased AL - Courtney Vivian Staggs, 35, missing after being dropped off at client's home, Florence, 10 Aug 2020

[lightofmine99]

Courtney Vivian Staggs

Demographics:

• Missing Since: 08/10/2020 *
• Missing From: Florence, Alabama (Lauderdale Co.)
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Sex: Female
• Race: Caucasian
• Hair: Brown
• Eye: Green
• Age: 35 (now 38)
• Height: 5’5” - 5'6"
• Weight: 150 - 160 lbs.
• Clothing/Jewelry: black tank top or vest, leggings, black sandals
• Distinguishing characteristics: pierced ears, tattoo of writing on the side of her upper chest just below collarbone**

* NamUs says date of last constact is August 11, 2020.
** I think the tattoo looks like it says "Jay T" or "Jayt" in cursive.

Circumstances:
Staggs was dropped off at a client's home in the 600 block of east Irvine Avenue on August 10, 2020. She apparently left the person's residence and has never been heard from again. Her EBT card was later found at a Little Caesar's pizza restaurant in Florence, but surveillance footage of the restaurant didn't show her there. Since Staggs was last seen, her phone has been turned off. Few details are available in her case. (per Charley Project).

Last seen on East Irvine Ave being dropped off at a client's residence. Unknown where female went after servicing client. (per NamUs).

Additional Information (Gathered from Articles):
Approximately 3 months after her disappearance, human remains were found in neighboring Colbert County; the family was hopeful the remains would be identified as hers. Items reportedly found on the body were items likely to have been Staggs's, per family. Fast forward to 2024, these remains are still unidentified.

Again in 2023, the family was hopeful that remains found in Florence would be hers. The remains were quickly identified as that of Bradley Lard, who had been missing since 2019.

Stagg's phone "powered off" on August 11 around 7 A.M, according to a family member.

The family has provided DNA and Staggs's dental records to investigators. Staggs is a mother of five.

Links:

• NamUs: #MP75689​
• Charley Project​
• ALEA​
• 2020 Article​
• 2022 Article ​
• 2024 Article​

 

[lightofmine99]

Thinking about why it would take 4 years to identify remains (or test DNA, rather). Very little information is out there about those Colbert Co. remains; we don't know what state they were in or if they had clothing. The family claims "items" located on or with the remains were "likely" to belong to Courtney. That's kind of vague.

It did not take long at all to identify Mr. Lard's remains, though of course his remains could've had items and clothing that would pre-confirm it was him.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

MAY 20, 2024

Found deceased.

Authorities identify remains as missing Shoals woman

Florence Police have identified remains found in the area as Courtney Staggs who has been missing for more than three years.

www.waff.com

 

[lightofmine99]

Wow.

Aside from COVID slowing things down, why did it take so long for the remains to be identified via DNA? Are we just that backlogged?

Reported to move this thread to the FOUND forum.

 

[lightofmine99]

Looking at this I have always thought this is one of those cases where LE basically knows what happened or has a good idea of "whodunnit" but there's not enough hard evidence to move on anything. Maybe now that she has been confirmed deceased they can make a move.

 

[asmi106082]

When they say “client” do they mean she was a sex worker? Or was she employed as a nurse, home health aid, etc? I didn’t see that explained anywhere. MOO TIA

 

[GraceG]

Wow.

Aside from COVID slowing things down, why did it take so long for the remains to be identified via DNA? Are we just that backlogged?

Reported to move this thread to the FOUND forum.

I don't believe they say they identified the remains through DNA. That takes a while (not this long) but even then they have to have something to compare it against (unlike TV where they just take a hair from a brush, not realizing you have to have the hair shaft for a match, not just hair broken from brushing and then you have enough DNA from the remains for a match). Dental records can also take longer, if the person didn't have regular dental work or their family had no idea what dentist they may have seen as an adult. Clothing will tangle and deteriorate over time. Depending on the level of decomposition, LE can use a mobile Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (which you have probably heard of as AFIS) machine to obtain a fingerprint which searches for matches from a nationwide database of people previously incarcerated. But if that person isn't in there, they may have to get tissue or bone samples for more crime lab testing. Unfortunately, the time to “results” can often be quite long with things affect turn around time. If a lab is in a jurisdiction with a high legal burden of analysis , it may never have the resources to get through evidence timely, incurring surprisingly long delays. Also, some forensic disciplines have long testing schemes by necessity, so what types of tests can also impact it. This is why you sometimes see FBI on a case that you wouldn't think would involve the feds, but local LE requests them, and if able they provide resources for testing, but if LE doesn't ask, they don't automatically come in. https://ucr.fbi.gov/fingerprints_bi...r-of-excellence/files/iafis_0808_one-pager825

 

[lightofmine99]

When they say “client” do they mean she was a sex worker? Or was she employed as a nurse, home health aid, etc? I didn’t see that explained anywhere. MOO TIA

I have a feeling it's the former. No offense to any family that might be reading this. Courtney's disappearance has been covered often in the media since she went missing but I think it would've blown up more if she was a home health nurse.

At least one of her photos on NamUs appears to be from a mugshot.

 

[lightofmine99]

North Alabama sheriff confirms remains were body of woman missing since 2020

Courtney Staggs was last seen on Aug. 10, 2020 in the Florence area.

www.al.com

“We have some ideas about what happened, we have some statements, we have persons of interest. And we’re going to start going down the checklist and whittling some of these things out. Hopefully, we can apprehend and bring someone to justice on this case,” he said. “I can tell you the wheels are turning really fast now. It’s just been a waiting game until now.”
- Lauderdale Co. Sheriff Eric Balentine

 

[lightofmine99]

Unless they were listed outside of public view, her remains were never uploaded to NamUs. In one of the articles with Courtney's family, they stated the remains were found with items believed to be Courtney's. Maybe they were confident it was her from the get-go so they didn't list them.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Whiteside has been charged with abuse of a corpse. He was booked into the Colbert County Jail. Whiteside was released on bond Wednesday morning.

Court documents reveal he will be arraigned on March 18.

The investigation remains ongoing as the sheriff’s office expects more arrests.

Arrest made in 2020 disappearance of Colbert Co. woman

One suspect has been arrested in connection to the 2020 disappearance of a Colbert County woman.

www.waff.com

 

[lightofmine99]

Man Charged With Abuse of Corpse in 2020 Missing Florence Woman Case

Man charged with abuse of corpse in 2020 missing Florence woman case

The Colbert County Sheriff’s Office says it has made a significant breakthrough in the investigation of the 2020 disappearance of Courtney Staggs.

www.waaytv.com

 

[Jo in Calif]

His FB page.

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[Tricia]

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[lightofmine99]

Archives of recent articles:

MAN CHARGED WITH ABUSE OF CORPSE IN 2020 MISSING FLORENCE WOMAN CASE (WAAY31)
ARCHIVE (01/16/25)

ARREST MADE IN 2020 DISAPPEARANCE OF COLBERT CO. WOMAN (WAFF48)
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ALABAMA MAN INDICTED ON ABUSE OF CORPSE CHARGES IN WOMAN’S 2020 DISAPPEARANCE (AL.COM)
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