Excellent article on the Jahi Turner case

I thought I’d pop in and refer readers to this awesome Los Angeles Times article on the Jahi Turner case, told from the point of view of Jahi’s mother, Tameka.

Tameka was only eighteen years old when her son went missing, and that was eighteen years ago–a lifetime. It took a long time for her to get out of denial and come to terms with the fact that her husband Tieray, her son’s caregiver, was almost certainly responsible for whatever happened to Jahi.

Now that the court case is over with and Tieray has nothing to fear due to double jeopardy rules, I wish he would just fess up to what happened to Jahi. It would at least give Tameka some peace.

I am proud that Tameka has been able to move on with her life and accomplish things after this awful event. She finished out her service in the Navy, is raising another son who’s now seventeen, and works for the University of Maryland.

I find myself wondering about the other teenage mothers of kids who have disappeared. Tanisha Watkins‘s mother was only sixteen when she disappeared. Donel Minor‘s mother was also a teenager. I don’t know what happened to the mothers. I hope they’re doing all right today.

Jahi Turner arrest warrant

They’ve released the arrest warrant in Jahi Turner‘s murder-without-a-body disappearance, outlining all the evidence against his stepfather, Tieray Jones. I have to say, it’s pretty damning. Particularly the diary entries, and multiple witnesses who contradicted Tieray’s version of what happened that day. I will provide more details in today’s update.

Murder charge in Jahi Turner disappearance

They have FINALLY charged Tieray Jones in the 2002 disappearance of his stepson, Jahi Turner. I’m pretty surprised they didn’t do it sooner. I know the police were pushing for a murder charge even less than a year after Jahi went missing.

Jahi was a beautiful little boy. I hope he finally gets justice.

So where is Tieray Jones now?

My previous entry comparing the Wallace Guidroz case to the 2002 disappearance of Jahi Turner prompted me to try to find out the current whereabouts of Jahi’s stepfather, Tieray Jones. Jahi was in Tieray’s care on the day he disappeared, and Tieray is the prime suspect in his disappearance. I knew he’d gotten in trouble with the law since then but I didn’t have anything terribly recent.

Well, I learned that in 2006 in Maryland, Tieray got five years in prison after he pleaded no contest to assault in connection with a shooting. He got off pretty lightly, though; he’d initially been charged in murder (the murder happened in 2000, two years before Jahi disappeared) but there was insufficient evidence. The prosecutor called him “a menace to the community.”

Last November, Tieray was shot in the leg. (This article has a current photo of Tieray.) It was a minor injury and Tieray actually ran from the police when they arrived on the scene. He identified Tyquan Jaquese Haywood as the guy who shot him, and Haywood was jailed and charged with attempted murder. However, a few days later the police wanted to drop the case against him because they believed he was not involved in the shooting after all. No word on who actually shot Tieray or why he said Haywood did it if he did not. I found this article from 2009 about another case Haywood was involved in, that has a picture of him.

And that’s all I was able to locate. It’s certainly enough to make me want to stay away from Tieray and I would advise everyone, especially mothers of small children, to do likewise.

Wallace Guidroz case now a homicide

The 1983 disappearance of Wallace Guidroz, previously classified as a non-family abduction, has been reclassified as a homicide and they’ve issued a death certificate. They even listed a cause of death: blunt force injury to the head.

The police are not outright saying so, but it seems to me that Wallace’s father, Stanley, must have confessed to killing him, or admitted killing him, or something. Stanley doesn’t have anything to lose by confessing; he’s already facing a second-degree murder charge in Louisiana and I believe that carries a life sentence. Maybe he just wants to get it all off his chest. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like they’re going to find Wallace’s body, even if it was buried at the spot they’re searching at.

The case reminds me very much of the 2002 disappearance of Jahi Turner: the same age child, allegedly abducted from a park, last seen in the company of a male caregiver who is a suspect in his disappearance. Jahi’s stepfather was also later charged with an unrelated murder, but it didn’t stick. I don’t know where he is now, and I haven’t heard anything about Jahi’s case in a very long time.