On Sept. 23, officials from the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office and the Memphis Police Department pulled the body of a woman from the Mississippi River. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, both parties reportedly confirmed the body was missing 21-year-old Tamia Taylor, WREG 3 reported.
Taylor was celebrating her birthday on a Memphis riverboat cruise when she was last seen Sept. 9, according to a press release issued by the Memphis Police Department Sept. 12.
On Saturday, officials recovered Taylor’s body from the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River. Action News 5 noted that the young mother’s remains were sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office in Little Rock.
Taylor’s mother, Debra Taylor, was delivered the heartbreaking news on Sept. 26 by Memphis law enforcement.
“She’s 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,” Jasmine Ellis, a family representative, told Fox 13 Memphis. “So right now, she’s overwhelmed and naturally (has) the feelings a mother would feel if they lose their daughter.”
Memphis police do not suspect foul play in Taylor’s death.
According to Ellis, the 21-year-old’s tragic death was allegedly ruled by the medical examiner’s office as “a drowning,” but authorities have not confirmed the news, and the examiner’s office has not released details about their findings.
Authorities are still unclear as to how Taylor ended up in the Mississippi River.
Taylor’s mother filed a missing persons report on Sept. 10.
Debra filed a missing persons report on Sept. 10 after Taylor did not return from her river cruise excursion on Saturday.
The matriarch was out with a group of friends when she boarded the Island Queen Booze Cruise at 11:30 p.m. After the boat returned and docked at 1:30 a.m., all passengers left the cruise, but her friends claimed they did not see her leave the boat. WREG 3 noted that the only trace of Taylor “was her cell phone.”
A golf cart driver in Downtown Memphis later alleged that he saw Taylor on dry land after the boat docked. During an interview with Fox 13 Memphis on Sept. 14, the driver alleged that the 21-year-old mother of two was “very intoxicated” as she left the Island Queen Booze Cruise with “two women and a man.”
During an interview with WREG 3, Debra pled with Taylor’s friends to come forward with more information about her death.
“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,” Debra added.
On Sept. 27, Action News 5 posted footage, provided by Kuandera Jenkins, of an inebriated Taylor on the boat.
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