Found Deceased TN - Tamia Taylor, 21, met friend at 11:30pm and got on a riverboat, when riverboat docked she was missing, Memphis, 9 Sep 2023

  • #141
What did the 3 of them do after the boat trip? Did they carry on drinking or did they go home?
Good question.

Did the group have plans after the boat ride? Where did everyone go without Tamia? Did they expect her to find them at a designated place?

Her cousin apparently showed up and learned Tamia wasn't with friends. Did he show up at the boat dock? Or somewhere else? Was it known that the cousin would be there so friends thought Tamia would find him?

Too many loose ends!


jmo
 
  • #142
*Previous reporting:

“I’m hurting as a mother, her friends is hurting, her family is hurting, her brother is hurting, her children are hurting,” Tamia’s mother, Debra Taylor, told Action News 5 after the family conducted its own search for her at Memphis Riverboats Monday.

Tamia, who has two children, was part of Covington’s Class of 2020.

”She was with them, and then she had to go to the bathroom, she put her phone down on the table and they picked the phone up and proceeded to wait for her at the door. I don’t know what made them leave, but they left,” Debra said.

“You got to have hope. Don’t never lose hope,” she said. “Anybody that knows anything, hear anything, please just give us whatever information. Even if you think it’s not important, it may be more important than you think.

“Whether I get her back alive or I have to put her in the ground, God is in control.”
 
  • #143
“I’m hurting as a mother, her friends is hurting, her family is hurting, her brother is hurting, her children are hurting,” Tamia’s mother, Debra Taylor, told Action News 5 after the family conducted its own search for her at Memphis Riverboats Monday.

Tamia, who has two children, was part of Covington’s Class of 2020.

”She was with them, and then she had to go to the bathroom, she put her phone down on the table and they picked the phone up and proceeded to wait for her at the door. I don’t know what made them leave, but they left,” Debra said.

“You got to have hope. Don’t never lose hope,” she said. “Anybody that knows anything, hear anything, please just give us whatever information. Even if you think it’s not important, it may be more important than you think.

“Whether I get her back alive or I have to put her in the ground, God is in control.”
It's interesting that Debra Taylor's version of what Tamia's friends told her has no mention of them searching the boat or calling the police. She said that they picked her phone up, waited for her at the door and then left.

So who was it that informed the police of Tamia's disappearance - her friends or her family?
 
  • #144
It's interesting that Debra Taylor's version of what Tamia's friends told her has no mention of them searching the boat or calling the police. She said that they picked her phone up, waited for her at the door and then left.

So who was it that informed the police of Tamia's disappearance - her friends or her family?
Police say her mother reported her missing Sunday after she didn’t return home from a boat ride on Riverside Drive.

**eta:
She then gave me the story, 'We were on the boat. We were getting out of the boat and Tamia says she had to go to the bathroom. She put her phone down to go back up to the second floor to use the bathroom. We picked up her phone. We went to the door to stand and wait on her and then we left

According to the Memphis Riverboats site the ‘Midnight Booz Cruise’ is a two-hour cruise that boards at 10:30 p.m., departs at 11:30 p.m., and returns at 1:30 a.m.

* If the boat leaves at 11:30 and she was last seen at 11:30, then why were they getting off the boat? She says that Tamia went back up to 2nd floor, so they were already on the boat getting ready to depart. So possibly they boarded at 10:30. Is there a pre-party? Why get off the boat when the true party is about to start?
 
Last edited:
  • #145
I don’t think there will be a happy ending here, sadly.

I am slow to pass judgment on Tamias friends for having varying stories. I grew up hanging with a hard-partying crowd, and it’s only by sheer luck we never had anything terrible happen. One time we were at a college party and apparently some kind of theft happened. The police spent hours the next day interviewing all of us - and we all had different versions of stories, not because we were lying, but because we had all been very intoxicated and remembered things differently.

There were also, unfortunately, many nights our group got split up. And in our drunken state, we just figured we’d find each other tomorrow. It wasn’t anything nefarious to us, it was just the reckless way we lived. I had never even heard of “girl code” until I came to WS. We just got lucky we all survived.

My point is that, while it may seem unfathomable and “hinky” that her friends have varying stories and didn’t stick together, it could truly just be a combination of intoxication and recklessness. Not every grows up with the same set of standards.

OTOH, it’s entirely possible that it IS a cover up by her friends or that they’re hiding something. I’m not leaning one way or the other at the moment.

JMO!
 
  • #146
I don’t think there will be a happy ending here, sadly.

I am slow to pass judgment on Tamias friends for having varying stories. I grew up hanging with a hard-partying crowd, and it’s only by sheer luck we never had anything terrible happen. One time we were at a college party and apparently some kind of theft happened. The police spent hours the next day interviewing all of us - and we all had different versions of stories, not because we were lying, but because we had all been very intoxicated and remembered things differently.

There were also, unfortunately, many nights our group got split up. And in our drunken state, we just figured we’d find each other tomorrow. It wasn’t anything nefarious to us, it was just the reckless way we lived. I had never even heard of “girl code” until I came to WS. We just got lucky we all survived.

My point is that, while it may seem unfathomable and “hinky” that her friends have varying stories and didn’t stick together, it could truly just be a combination of intoxication and recklessness. Not every grows up with the same set of standards.

OTOH, it’s entirely possible that it IS a cover up by her friends or that they’re hiding something. I’m not leaning one way or the other at the moment.

JMO!
I would buy that except for the phone. No matter how we grew up back in the day, having someone else's phone today seems hinky whether that word grates on anyone's nerves or not. imo

jmo
 
  • #147
I don’t think there will be a happy ending here, sadly.

I am slow to pass judgment on Tamias friends for having varying stories. I grew up hanging with a hard-partying crowd, and it’s only by sheer luck we never had anything terrible happen. One time we were at a college party and apparently some kind of theft happened. The police spent hours the next day interviewing all of us - and we all had different versions of stories, not because we were lying, but because we had all been very intoxicated and remembered things differently.

There were also, unfortunately, many nights our group got split up. And in our drunken state, we just figured we’d find each other tomorrow. It wasn’t anything nefarious to us, it was just the reckless way we lived. I had never even heard of “girl code” until I came to WS. We just got lucky we all survived.

My point is that, while it may seem unfathomable and “hinky” that her friends have varying stories and didn’t stick together, it could truly just be a combination of intoxication and recklessness. Not every grows up with the same set of standards.

OTOH, it’s entirely possible that it IS a cover up by her friends or that they’re hiding something. I’m not leaning one way or the other at the moment.

JMO!

I ran with this type of crowd too and I think not sticking together is kind of dependent upon the setting in which you're hanging out. When we went out on campus, everything was in walking distance so it wouldn't be a big deal for one of us to pull an Irish goodbye and just leave without saying bye to everyone to go to a different party, bar, hook up, etc. My understanding of this situation is that they had a sizable journey from where they parked to get to the boat that would make it kind of odd to just head back and leave without her. If Tamia had just ghosted that's one thing, but when you have her phone it changes things a little bit. I don't remember what my point was and I'm just rambling now JMO
 
  • #148
Dbm duplicate
 
  • #149
At around 10.15pm, the pair met up with some friends and boarded Memphis Riverboats, but while they were waiting Tamia spoke to someone in line. Them two were talking and whatever and he was telling her ‘Oh, you a Virgo, she’s a Virgo,’ so they started laughing and talking so he gave her some money to buy her a drink so she can celebrate her birthday,” said Jenkins.

Tamia walked alone to the toilet and was gone for more than 15 minutes. ”I walked down there to the first floor and I was talking to Canesha and Shanquila and I asked them where is Tamia? They looked and said she was just right here. So we all split it up and searched the whole boat while the boat was moving looking for Tamia.
*I’m confused. No surprise for me but maybe someone can help me out. The times are not adding up. They meet up at 10:15, Tamia goes back upstairsto bathroom, they wait 15 minutes and start searching. Earlier reports state they were getting off boat at 11:30. Why did they get off boat? They must have gotten back on, you’d think? Oh, Idk my end point now. Too much erroneous info out there, I think…
*edited photo out. Not sure if that’s her or not. It’s the Mirror and like most of MSM, they sometimes put their ads in the middle so it looks like they run their stuff together
 
Last edited:
  • #150
Who is that in the photo as the article says it’s her? But in the video on fb she has on white shorts, not black.
 
  • #151
Tamia Taylor was last seeing boarding the booze cruise on Saturday

At around 10.15pm, the pair met up with some friends and boarded Memphis Riverboats, but while they were waiting Tamia spoke to someone in line. Them two were talking and whatever and he was telling her ‘Oh, you a Virgo, she’s a Virgo,’ so they started laughing and talking so he gave her some money to buy her a drink so she can celebrate her birthday,” said Jenkins.

Tamia walked alone to the toilet and was gone for more than 15 minutes. ”I walked down there to the first floor and I was talking to Canesha and Shanquila and I asked them where is Tamia? They looked and said she was just right here. So we all split it up and searched the whole boat while the boat was moving looking for Tamia.
*I’m confused. No surprise for me but maybe someone can help me out. The times are not adding up. They meet up at 10:15, Tamia goes back upstairsto bathroom, they wait 15 minutes and start searching. Earlier reports state they were getting off boat at 11:30. Why did they get off boat? They must have gotten back on, you’d think? Oh, Idk my end point now. Too much erroneous info out there, I think…

Those timeframes definitely don't add up. I thought I read there wasn't even a bathroom on the second floor? It makes it sound like they boarded the boat at 10:15 and by 10:30 they were looking for her which confuses me more because wasn't it verified she was on the boat when it pulled back in to dock?
 
  • #152
Who is that in the photo as the article says it’s her? But in the video on fb she has on white shorts, not black.
Idk so I edited the photo out with explanation. confusing articles…
 
  • #153
Debra Taylor, the mother of the missing person, drove the next day from Covington to Memphis to file a missing persons report.
 
  • #154
Debra Taylor, the mother of the missing person, drove the next day from Covington to Memphis to file a missing persons report.
I hope someone was with her. I can't imagine, as a mom myself of young adults, of making that drive. :( Very tough situation for families who don't have answers.

jmo
 
  • #155
They were celebrating on Beale Street (Beale Street Memphis), before going on the cruise. Lots of clubs/bars there.
I wonder if there was a DD, or if they Ubered? But wasn't Tamia's car at the boat area? Those details to my knowledge haven't been detailed, but I'm just getting in and haven't checked for updates today.
Also wondering if she had planned to stay overnight close by because she knew that she would be intoxicated.
 
  • #156
Debra Taylor, the mother of the missing person, drove the next day from Covington to Memphis to file a missing persons report.
This witness [at 1:28 of the video], a golf cart taxi driver, claims that he saw Tamia after the boat docked (on dry land), with two women and a man. They asked for a ride, but the driver already had a fare; later, he saw the group on foot, walking. He asked if they needed a ride and they turned him down.
 
  • #157
That she left her phone on the table and went to the restroom alone doesn't raise any red flags for me.

That they grabbed her phone and went to wait for her outside near the boat also doesn't raise any red flags for me IF the boat had docked and it was time to leave, and they didn't feel they could stay sitting.

But when she doesn't turn up and, knowing she should, because they have her phone, they aren't concerned enough to stay and raise an alarm bothers me.

Maybe this was a mistake they wouldn't have made if not for alcohol consumption, though.

So now I'm curious about a few things, just speculating ideas:

- What if someone slipped something into one of her drinks?

- Could she have been the very last remaining on the boat besides an employee?

- Was it chaotic and really plausible that she and her friends simply missed each other when she exited the boat? Or should they absolutely have seen her based on where they waited?

- How long did they actually wait?

- Were they asked to voluntarily turn their phones over to law enforcement?

- Have any search warrants been requested?
After hearing several state that a man was buying her drinks, I’ve wondered this as well. I believe someone stated seeing her walking with a man. Do we know if any cameras show her with the male buying drinks?
 
  • #158
Feeling terrible for her mother and her family. Her children are precious. I am not seeing a happy ending with this one but I hope I am wrong.
 
  • #159
eyewitness sightings are notoriously inaccurate so who knows if that was really her with the others walking away after the boat docked.

But, the bit about chatting up some dude in line prior to boarding, now we're getting somewhere.
 
  • #160
Why would someone give her money to buy a drink? That sounds odd to me, why not buy her the drink when they got inside, they would have got in at the same time? I can't imagine a stranger handing her $10 or whatever in the line.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
117
Guests online
2,301
Total visitors
2,418

Forum statistics

Threads
632,155
Messages
18,622,768
Members
243,038
Latest member
VdeFz
Back
Top