M7 Crime Storytime: The Case of Tamika Houston

Whatever happened to Tamika happened right there in your apartment. I don't believe that. How do you know that was blood? It could be anybody's blood. No, it can't be anybody's blood. How long do you think we've been doing this? You don't know that we can tell one person's blood from another blood? I don't. On Monday, June 14, 2004, the family of 24-year-old Tamika Houston reported her missing after weeks of no contact. Although she was known to be independent, spontaneous, and often went days without contacting her family, it was unusual for her to go completely silent without returning any calls. The family contacted the Spartanburg Police Department in South Carolina to do a welfare check on Tamika. After searching the house, they noticed that many things didn't align with what they were told about Tamika's personality. This raised questions for investigating officers who launched an immediate search for the young woman. Had Tamika decided to leave her life behind in search of her dreams? Or was there a more sinister aspect to her disappearance? Hello and welcome back to M7 Crime Storytime, where we cover solved, unsolved, and twisted cases from around the world. Today we dive into the most twisted case of Tamika Houston. Today we visit Spartanburg, South Carolina, the county seat of Spartanburg County. In the late 19th century, it was the center of the textile manufacturing industry. Its nickname, Hub City, comes from the railroad lines that radiated from the city center to form the shape of a wheel hubcap. Spartanburg's population of 38,000 enjoys a suburban lifestyle with the charm of southern small-town living. In terms of affordability, it's a good area to raise a family. But like other cities of its size, crime is always present. It does lean towards having a high crime rate, but following the general safety rules can reduce one's chances of becoming a victim. It's in Spartanburg that our story begins. Tamika Antonia Houston was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on December 11, 1979, to parents Anthony Houston and Gabriella Semineni. She had an older stepbrother named Shaquan, a younger brother named Anthony Jr., and a sister named Antonia. Tamika was described as having a warm and welcoming personality. She was always smiling and made friends easily. After graduating high school, Tamika began working as a waitress. She moved out of her family home and settled into her own small house on Harvard Drive in Spartanburg. Tamika always had a love for animals, and once she found herself her own place, she adopted a pit bull named Macy. Tamika was also very involved in her church, particularly the church choir. She loved to sing and intended on pursuing a career in the music industry. In 2003, she auditioned for the popular reality show American Idol in Atlanta, Georgia, but didn't get through the first round. After realizing that her dream of performing was going to be a long and arduous journey, she decided to return to nursing school and settled into her new passion. In May 2004, the school term was at an end and the summer holidays were fast approaching. Tamika was preparing for a much-needed break from nursing school and the exams. She was known to make sudden decisions to visit friends and family. She didn't have class to report to. She didn't have a job to go to every morning. She was very spontaneous. She was the type of person to get in her car and kind of go. Initially, her family wasn't concerned by her lack of communication. However, her aunt, Rebecca Howard, grew concerned when she discovered Tamika hadn't been returning her mother's calls. Two weeks was too long to go without contact. Rebecca contacted the Spartanburg Police Department, believing something may have happened to Tamika. I called police and said that there's clearly something wrong. I can't locate my niece. She's not returning anyone's phone calls. Officers from the department agreed to do a welfare check, but told Rebecca it was possible she may have just decided to take a trip out of town. When they arrived at Tamika's house, they first noticed that her car, a 1991 Black Honda CRX, was missing and the doors to her house were all locked. They walked around the house and found one of the windows unlocked. Officers announced their presence but received no response. Fearing something may have happened to her, they entered through the window. Inside, however, officers found some clues that didn't quite add up. They noticed an uncashed paycheck on the kitchen counter. A check of the house revealed that there were no evident signs of a struggle. While looking through the rooms, officers started to smell something awful in the air. It was not a good sign and officers intensified their search. What they discovered was a disturbing sight. In one of the rooms was Tamika's beloved pet dog Macy and a litter of puppies. What was disturbing was that Macy and her puppies were left to fend for themselves. Macy and her puppies were severely malnourished and the room was in a deplorable state. When officers reported their findings to Tamika's family, they knew that something bad must have happened to her. She was not the type of person to neglect Macy. Police immediately issued an all-points bulletin and a bolo, or be on the lookout, to locate Tamika in her car while her family in Spartanburg began distributing flyers with her details around town. Tamika's family also contacted the local media in an attempt to gain more focus on her case. As a mother, it's very difficult not knowing where my daughter is and hoping that I'm thinking that she's okay and safe. Detectives Steve Lamb and Jane Stedman were tasked with leading the investigation into Tamika's disappearance. They began the groundwork immediately and subpoenaed Tamika's banking and cell phone records in order to trace her movements. What they discovered was that Tamika had not made use of either her cell phone service or bank account since early May 2004. The records backed up the family's statements. No one had heard from Tamika since early May. The investigation was beginning to look suspiciously like a case of a runaway adult, but the family provided detectives with an interesting clue. While interviewing family members, investigators Lamb and Stedman were told by many of them to look into Terrence Moss, Tamika's ex-boyfriend. Several family members mentioned to the detectives that Tamika and Terrence had recently gone through a turbulent breakup. Armed with a name, they ran a background check on Terrence and discovered he had a criminal record. There was an incident at her house where... She accused him of hitting her and striking her. However many flares can go off in a law enforcement officer's mind, that's how many would have gone off with Terrence Wallace. A further check revealed an interesting twist in the investigation. Terrence was scheduled to appear in court for domestic violence charge a week after Tamika was reported missing. The charge, ironically, was laid by Tamika, who had conveniently vanished before the hearing. This provided detectives with a possible motive. They had two possibilities. Firstly, Tamika could have fled the city to avoid appearing in court and testifying against Terrence. The second possibility, however, was more sinister. Terrence could have abducted Tamika and may have been holding her hostage in order to have the charges against him dropped for her lack of appearance in court. They couldn't rule out either possibility, so their next step was to call in Terrence. On June 23, 2004, Terrence voluntarily went to the Spartanburg police station after detectives called him in for an interview. He told detectives he was there to help them in any way possible in order to find Tamika. Detectives, however, were more interested in his relationship with Tamika. Terrence explained that he and Tamika met in the year 2000 and were living together until March 2004. Detectives then told Terrence that they were aware of what happened between the couple. He confessed to hitting Tamika after they had an argument over his alleged affairs. Tamika then told him to move out and filed a domestic abuse charge against him. And I fell down on my knees and I started praying and I was like, it's just so many demons in here that, you know, we're becoming physical with each other now that we just need to separate. When detectives presented their theories to what they believe may have happened to Tamika, Terrence denied any involvement in her disappearance. He told officers that he regretted his actions during their argument and was genuinely concerned for her safety after he heard she was missing. Terrence became a person of interest after his interview with detectives. But without any physical evidence to link him to Tamika's disappearance, he was released. Investigators, however, were not slowing down in their search for Tamika. They started by looking at recent hospital admissions and through files at local mortuaries for any Joanne Does who may have been reported between May and June 2004. They'd also looked through the accident reports and 911 calls that were made between that same time period. It was then that they came across a rather distressing piece of information. Someone had called to report the murder of a woman and explained that her body was dumped in the Cleveland Park Lake, not very far from Tamika's house. The call was made in June, around the same time she was reported missing. Investigators launched an immediate search of the area. Divers were sent into the lake and searched it thoroughly. Investigators on the ground also looked for body among the hedges and trees using cadaver dogs. Hours later, the search was called off after investigators concluded that there was no body to be found. To detectives, it sounded like a call made to detract their investigation. They tried to trace the call back to a location, but discovered it was made from a prepaid cell phone or burner phone near Cleveland Park Lake. In a way, it provided hope for detectives because they believed Tamika may still be alive and could be rescued. Meanwhile, Tamika's family continued to keep the public informed about Tamika and her disappearance. They offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who could provide information that would lead to Tamika's discovery. Detectives received numerous tips, many of which were bogus. The leads that seemed promising ended up being cases of mistaken identity, leading investigators to dead ends. However, Tamika's family were not ready to throw in the towel, and their persistence would lead investigators to another promising lead. In July 2004, a month after Tamika was reported missing, a woman called the Spartanburg Police Department to report an abandoned car in her Barksdale apartment parking lot. A woman saw the flyer and... Saw the description picture of the car on there and said, you know, this looks like a car that's parked behind Barksdale Apartments. It wasn't just any car. The woman said it looked similar to the car in the missing person's posters all over the city. Investigators and forensic units rushed to the Barksdale apartment complex that was located just four miles away from where Tamika lived. The car looked exactly like the one Tamika owned, and after checking the number plates against their records, investigators confirmed that it was, in fact, her car. What investigators still needed to determine was whether Tamika abandoned the car herself. or if someone else had parked it in the apartment complex. Forensic teams searched through the car looking for any clues. There was no blood or scuff marks to suggest a struggle had occurred. However, after dusting down every surface, they found a partial fingerprint on the steering wheel. Under the front passenger seat, investigators discovered a set of keys. After weeks of searching for Tamika, they finally located a piece of evidence that could possibly unlock more answers in their investigation. Investigators questioned residents at Barksdale about whether they'd seen anyone parking the car in the apartment parking lot. One resident said he'd seen a single African-American man park the car and walk away. Another said he saw two African-American men abandoning the car. The reports were conflicting. Investigators had to rely on the evidence they found to point them in some direction. The partial fingerprint and the set of unknown keys. The fingerprint was uploaded to the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, but there is no match in the system. This allowed investigators to eliminate Terrence as a suspect. The only other clue investigators had was the set of keys. Detective J. Stedman began the process of elimination by using the keys to unlock Tamika's car, but none of them worked. He then visited her house and tried using the keys to unlock the doors of the house. That too turned out to be a dead end. Investigators reasoned that if the keys did not belong to Tamika, then they must have belonged to the person responsible for her disappearance. A A further look at the keys revealed a stamp with the code AA14 on the surface. These keys were then taken to all local locksmiths for identification. Fortunately, one of the locksmiths identified the key immediately. He told detectives that the keys were made for the Fremont School apartment complex in Spartanburg. Investigators learned the apartment complex was once an elementary school that had been converted into public housing. There were 46 apartments in total, and investigators tried the keys out on every door. When they believed their luck had finally run out, the key unlocked a basement apartment which had been abandoned due to flooding. Nevertheless, investigators collected whatever evidence they could and sent this to the crime lab for testing. They also questioned the apartment complex maintenance man, who told them the basement apartment had been empty for a long time. He then explained the policy of the apartment's management team. The doorknobs on each apartment were switched around after a tenant was evicted. This avoided non-paying tenants from using their keys to re-enter the flat without the manager's knowledge. However, the apartment's records were not kept in good order, so he was unable to tell investigators from which apartment the doorknob had been exchanged. He was, however, able to provide investigators with a list of former tenants. The results from the crime lab were disappointment. They didn't provide any evidence that proved Tamika had been in the apartment. Investigators then turned to the list of names of former tenants. Tamika's family didn't recognize any of the names on the list, but a close friend of hers said one of the names sounded familiar. He best friend mentioned there's this guy named Christopher that she started seeing around the time of her disappearance. For Tamika's family, the news was unexpected. Tamika's friend told investigators that Tamika mentioned a man named Christopher with whom she'd recently started dating after her split from Terrence. She wasn't sure about his last name, but there was a tenant on the list named Christophertopher Houston. Investigators ran a background check on Christophertopher. The results raised many eyebrows. 23-year-old Christophertopher had a criminal history. He was convicted on a charge of bank robbery in May 2000 and had served four years for the crime. He was in the middle of serving a 30-day sentence after being arrested for a traffic violation. Because he'd broken the conditions of his parole, Christophertopher was sent to jail without a hearing. However, at the time of Tamika's disappearance, He was not in jail and had also been evicted from his flat at the Fremont School apartment a month after she was reported missing. After locating him, investigators brought Christophertopher in for questioning in late June 2004. He admitted that he was dating Tamika, but said he wasn't responsible for her disappearance. When they asked Christophertopher where he thought Tamika was, he responded by saying she'd mentioned something about going to bike week. She said, I want to go to bike week. She said who she was going with? No, she didn't say. She said she was gone. Did you see her at any point after that? No, that's the last time I seen her. His fingerprints were checked against the partial print found in Tamika's car. Investigators were certain that Christophertopher's fingerprints would match. However, their hopes at finding a lead hit an unexpected dead end. The fingerprints were not a match. Investigators were at a loss. Every lead they had was drying up. With no physical evidence to link him to Tamika's disappearance, police allowed him to return to jail. He was released after serving his time in mid-July 2004. It had been almost three months since Tamika's disappearance when investigators received yet another promising lead. It was an unexpected twist in the case. Within days of Christophertopher being questioned, a woman contacted investigators about Tamika's case. The woman who called identified herself as the ex-wife of Christophertopher Houston. She told investigators that she knew Christophertopher was dating Tamika at the time of her disappearance and she was following the case in the local media. The woman told investigators she might have some evidence they would be interested in. She revealed that she was in possession of Christophertopher's wallet. She explained that he'd mailed her his wallet for safekeeping while he served out his sentence. Inside the wallet, she found a red spot on one of the pictures he kept of her and their two children. She agreed to hand over the wallet to investigators if they were willing to fetch it from her. The detectives jumped at the opportunity and paid Christophertopher's ex-wife a visit. After retrieving the wallet, they sent the photo to be tested for traces of human blood. The red spot was confirmed to be human blood. Investigators then contacted Tamika's parents Anthony and Gabriella and asked them to submit DNA samples to test against the blood sample. After a month of waiting, the results were ready. It turned out that the blood on the photo belonged to Tamika. Once again, investigators tracked down Christophertopher and brought him in for questioning. He denied having done anything to Tamika and argued that the blood could belong to anyone. Investigators told them that DNA evidence didn't lie, but Christophertopher remained adamant about his innocence. Whatever happened to Tamika happened right there in your apartment. Yeah, I'll delete that. How do you know that was? It could be in my blood. No, it can't be anybody's blood. How long do you think we've been doing this? You don't know that we can tell one person's blood from another blood? No. You ever heard of DNA? Yeah. Investigators knew that Christophertopher was responsible for harming Tamika, as the blood evidence proved that he was near enough to cause her some physical harm. However, they understood that the evidence was circumstantial at best. Without a body, the evidence they had may not be able to stand up in court or in front of a jury. There was no way to prove if Christophertopher had murdered Tamika, or if she'd simply been injured and escaped without informing anyone. Had Christophertopher been responsible for Tamika's death without a body and an autopsy, there was no way to prove if it was murder, manslaughter, accidental, or self-defense. Investigators'hands were tied. As time dragged on, Tamika's case remained open, but leads were far in view. Toward the end of 2004, though, another surprising lead presented itself. This was the lead that was going to blow the case wide open. The young woman made contact with detectives from the Spartanburg Police Department. She claimed to have been dating Christophertopher during May 2004. According to the young woman, she'd been inside Christophertopher's apartment, apartment 215, around the time Tamika disappeared and made note of several odd things. There was a large reddish-brown stain on the bedroom floor, and his dresser had been pushed up against the closet door. She told investigators she didn't want to alert Christophertopher to what she'd noticed. Instead, she spent the night with them in his apartment. When investigators questioned her further, they discovered she was only 15 years old at the time of Tamika's disappearance. She was also afraid of Christophertopher's retaliation if he discovered she was the one who snitched on him. This information was kept quiet by the investigative team as they worked to secure a warrant to search apartment 215 based on the new lead. Investigators remained cautiously optimistic as they knew it had been too long since Tamika disappeared, and whatever physical evidence remained could have been contaminated by the new tenants living in the apartment. In July 2005, 14 months after Tamika disappeared, investigators obtained the search warrant for Christophertopher's former apartment. Forensic specialists joined investigators as they prepared to enter the apartment. The information provided by the young woman was accurate. It was obvious someone had tried to clean up something in the bedroom. On the carpeted floor was a large patch that had been bleached clean. When forensic investigators cut out the top layer of carpet, they found a large amount of dried blood. Investigators then sprayed luminol around the bedroom, and the scene lit up in front of them when they switched the lights off. In the closet, investigators discovered huge patches of blood. DNA testing was sped up. as investigators already had Tamika's parents'DNA in storage. The results came back as belonging to Tamika. It was a heartbreaking moment for investigators as they broke the news to Tamika's devastated family. They surmised that Tamika may have been locked in the cupboard and bled to death while Christophertopher entertained an underage girl in the apartment that night. From the amount of blood evidence left behind, investigators were sure that Tamika was dead. It just took all the life out of me because I knew that, uh, Hey, my daughter was in an apartment and there was enough blood that my daughter could have died. What they needed to do now is find her body and give her family the peace they deserved. On Friday, August 12, 2005, Christophertopher was arrested for the murder of Tamika Houston and taken in for questioning at the Spartanburg police station. Christophertopher remained silent as investigators presented the evidence they found. Knowing the evidence they had against him was irrefutable, Christophertopher stood up and told investigators he was ready to go. He then told them he was going to show them where he buried Tamika. He stands up and he says, let's go. We said, where are we going? Are we going to the jail? Are you going to show us where she's at? He says, I'll show you where she's at. That afternoon, Christophertopher led police to a dense wooded area about 12 miles away from the city center. He pointed out the exact spot where he buried Tamika in a shallow grave. He told investigators he was sure that this was the spot because he'd laid two branches in the shape of a cross as a marker on the grave. Forensic team set out to dig up the graves and found the skeletal remains of a female body. The skull, however, was missing, but the lower jaw was found. The remains were taken to a crime lab and the teeth of the lower jaw were compared to Tamika's dental records. It was a match. It was really a difficult time for our entire family to see my sister suffer so much. You never really recover fully from... Losing someone in that way. Christophertopher was taken back to the interrogation room where he confessed to what had happened that night and how he killed Tamika. According to Christophertopher, Tamika had come to his apartment while he was getting ready to go out for the night. She demanded money from him, but he told her that he was trying to save money for the child he was expecting with another woman. This angered Tamika as she was still upset about his apparent infidelity. The argument between the two escalated and in a fit of anger, he hit her in the head with a hot iron. She started to bleed out in the bedroom floor and he hurriedly wrapped her body in some bedsheets before stepping out. stuffing her into his closet. He then propped the dresser up against the door in case the door accidentally opened and her body rolled out. Afterwards, he went out for the night and returned home with a young woman who he knew was underage. They had dinner in the apartment and then spent the night together. The next morning, he borrowed a friend's car and drove around with Tamika's body before finding a suitable place to bury her Afterward, he drove Tamika's car to another apartment complex and abandoned the vehicle Unknowingly, he dropped his set of keys in the car While in jail awaiting trial, Christophertopher gave reporters interviews and claimed that killing Tamika was an accident. He said that he felt deep regret every time he watched the news and saw Tamika's family reaching out to people for help in finding Tamika. He stated that a few months after he buried Tamika, he returned to the wooded area and dug up her body. He claimed that he intended to go to the police and turn himself in for committing the crime. However, he developed cold feet and changed his mind. Instead, he removed her skull and threw it in a dumpster in the city. Investigators said that Tamika was a woman who had been in the city for a long time. Investigators believed his motive was to avoid police discovering both their identity and the extent of injuries he actually inflicted on Tamika. Spartanburg County Prosecutor Trey Gowdy began preparing for the murder trial against Christophertopher Houston. Investigators provided physical evidence, witness statements, and an actual recorded confession making the state's case against Christophertopher airtight. Christophertopher pleaded not guilty. not guilty of his arraignment and remained in the Spartanburg County Jail until his trial was set to begin in April 2006. In the final week of March 2006, jury selections took place. On Monday, April 3, 2006, Christophertopher's murder trial began. In a shocking twist, Christophertopher asked the judge permission to address the court. He decided to change his plea to guilty. Christophertopher's defense team argued for the judge to consider his admission of guilt as a sign of remorse and sentence him to a maximum term of 40 years behind bars. Tamika's family were present at the trial, and the judge allowed her mother, Gabriella, to speak on their behalf before he passed the sentence. She told the court that Christophertopher deserved a life sentence. He'd put them through tremendous suffering for over 15 months and had taken from them the light of their lives. Christophertopher was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains behind bars at Broad River Prison in South Carolina. Recent reports from the prison show Christophertopher in a less than favorable light. He is known to have broken several prison rules and has had many privileges revoked as a result. Tamika's disappearance may have been a tragedy for her family and friends, but in a way, it helped highlight a social issue within the media industry itself. In 2004, when Tamika was declared missing, the media coverage in her hometown was extensive. However, her family had no success in getting her story out nationally. Tamika's disappearance was overshadowed by the cases of Lacey Peterson, Lori Hacking, Jennifer Wilson, and Natalie Holloway. I think a number of years, particularly the cable... networks, they found a formula that worked. When they covered these cases like they were soap operas with constant updates and little twists and turns, they saw, you know, people were engaging online, people were tuning into these stories, so that worked for them and they kept doing it. It was around 2005 that the term Missing White Woman Syndrome was coined. It referred to the media's extensive coverage of cases involving white women over people of color. Rebecca saw the unfair news coverage and tried to change her approach. He attempt to bring attention to cases of missing women of color had an impact. Derica, a retired police officer, and his sister-in-law, Natalie Wilson, had noticed the intense fight Tamika's Aunt Rebecca had put up to have her story heard. Inspired by Rebecca and Tamika's story, the Wilson sisters founded the Black and Missing Foundation in 2006. The nonprofit organization aimed to bring awareness to missing persons of color and provide the families of these people with the vital resources and tools to cope through the difficult times. The foundation also worked to educate the minority community on personal safety. date, they've brought closure to over 300 missing persons cases and have produced a docuseries titled Black and Missing that was inspired by Tamika's case. In 2022, Tamika's story became the focus of a podcast titled Finding Tamika. The podcast is centered around Tamika's disappearance and subsequent murder. In the telling of Tamika's story, the producers included the impact Tamika's case had on the missing women's coverage conversation. It's also helped highlight the invisibility of women of color when it comes to missing missing persons cases. Following the death of Tamika, her family continued to suffer with her loss. Although her Aunt Rebecca used their family tragedy to help the minority community, Tamika's father Anthony never fully recovered from her death. According to Anthony's friend Mike Fowler, he was a successful man who had a smile that could light up a room. He described Anthony as being driven to find Tamika when she was reported missing. After Tamika's death, Anthony became a shell of his former self. On January 9th, 2017, tragedy struck the Houston family once more. Paramedics were called to the home of Anthony Houston. Exactly who had made the call was never made public. He was found dead in the home he shared with his wife, Joanne. He'd suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Joanne, too, had been shot and was still alive when emergency services arrived. However, she later died in hospital. The investigation concluded that it was an apparent murder-suicide. Friends close to the couple said there were never any visible signs as to what led to such a tragedy. The couple were the picture of love and devotion. It was clear that no one else would understand what issues they were battling in their personal lives. The impact of Tamika's death was felt in two ways within her family. He Aunt Rebecca used the tragedy to create awareness and bring about a change, while her father, Anthony, suffered in silence to the very end. It also serves as a reminder to women to be wary of the company they keep. Our case today opens many channels for debate, but here are some things for you, our viewer, to consider. Do you think Tamika's case will have the impact her Aunt Rebecca wants? Do you believe that Christophertopher Houston felt any remorse for killing Tamika? Is the missing white woman syndrome trend still a cause for concern in current media trends? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. Also, please remember to subscribe to our channel, like and share our videos with like-minded individuals. If you have a true crime story you'd like us to cover, leave us a message in the comments section below. Until next time, stay safe.

Whatever happened to Tamika happened right there in your apartment. I don't believe that. How do you know that was blood?

It could be anybody's blood. No, it can't be anybody's blood. How long do you think we've been doing this? You don't know that we can tell one person's blood from another blood? I don't.

On Monday, June 14, 2004, the family of 24-year-old Tamika Houston reported her missing after weeks of no contact. Although she was known to be independent, spontaneous, and often went days without contacting her family, it was unusual for her to go completely silent without returning any calls. The family contacted the Spartanburg Police Department in South Carolina to do a welfare check on Tamika.

After searching the house, they noticed that many things didn't align with what they were told about Tamika's personality. This raised questions for investigating officers who launched an immediate search for the young woman. Had Tamika decided to leave her life behind in search of her dreams? Or was there a more sinister aspect to her disappearance?

Hello and welcome back to M7 Crime Storytime, where we cover solved, unsolved, and twisted cases from around the world. Today we dive into the most twisted case of Tamika Houston. Today we visit Spartanburg, South Carolina, the county seat of Spartanburg County.

In the late 19th century, it was the center of the textile manufacturing industry. Its nickname, Hub City, comes from the railroad lines that radiated from the city center to form the shape of a wheel hubcap. Spartanburg's population of 38,000 enjoys a suburban lifestyle with the charm of southern small-town living.

In terms of affordability, it's a good area to raise a family. But like other cities of its size, crime is always present. It does lean towards having a high crime rate, but following the general safety rules can reduce one's chances of becoming a victim. It's in Spartanburg that our story begins.

Tamika Antonia Houston was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on December 11, 1979, to parents Anthony Houston and Gabriella Semineni. She had an older stepbrother named Shaquan, a younger brother named Anthony Jr., and a sister named Antonia. Tamika was described as having a warm and welcoming personality.

She was always smiling and made friends easily. After graduating high school, Tamika began working as a waitress. She moved out of her family home and settled into her own small house on Harvard Drive in Spartanburg.

Tamika always had a love for animals, and once she found herself her own place, she adopted a pit bull named Macy. Tamika was also very involved in her church, particularly the church choir. She loved to sing and intended on pursuing a career in the music industry.

In 2003, she auditioned for the popular reality show American Idol in Atlanta, Georgia, but didn't get through the first round. After realizing that her dream of performing was going to be a long and arduous journey, she decided to return to nursing school and settled into her new passion. In May 2004, the school term was at an end and the summer holidays were fast approaching.

Tamika was preparing for a much-needed break from nursing school and the exams. She was known to make sudden decisions to visit friends and family. She didn't have class to report to.

She didn't have a job to go to every morning. She was very spontaneous. She was the type of person to get in her car and kind of go. Initially, her family wasn't concerned by her lack of communication.

However, her aunt, Rebecca Howard, grew concerned when she discovered Tamika hadn't been returning her mother's calls. Two weeks was too long to go without contact. Rebecca contacted the Spartanburg Police Department, believing something may have happened to Tamika. I called police and said that there's clearly something wrong.

I can't locate my niece. She's not returning anyone's phone calls. Officers from the department agreed to do a welfare check, but told Rebecca it was possible she may have just decided to take a trip out of town.

When they arrived at Tamika's house, they first noticed that her car, a 1991 Black Honda CRX, was missing and the doors to her house were all locked. They walked around the house and found one of the windows unlocked. Officers announced their presence but received no response.

Fearing something may have happened to her, they entered through the window. Inside, however, officers found some clues that didn't quite add up. They noticed an uncashed paycheck on the kitchen counter.

A check of the house revealed that there were no evident signs of a struggle. While looking through the rooms, officers started to smell something awful in the air. It was not a good sign and officers intensified their search.

What they discovered was a disturbing sight. In one of the rooms was Tamika's beloved pet dog Macy and a litter of puppies. What was disturbing was that Macy and her puppies were left to fend for themselves. Macy and her puppies were severely malnourished and the room was in a deplorable state. When officers reported their findings to Tamika's family, they knew that something bad must have happened to her.

She was not the type of person to neglect Macy. Police immediately issued an all-points bulletin and a bolo, or be on the lookout, to locate Tamika in her car while her family in Spartanburg began distributing flyers with her details around town. Tamika's family also contacted the local media in an attempt to gain more focus on her case.

As a mother, it's very difficult not knowing where my daughter is and hoping that I'm thinking that she's okay and safe. Detectives Steve Lamb and Jane Stedman were tasked with leading the investigation into Tamika's disappearance. They began the groundwork immediately and subpoenaed Tamika's banking and cell phone records in order to trace her movements. What they discovered was that Tamika had not made use of either her cell phone service or bank account since early May 2004. The records backed up the family's statements. No one had heard from Tamika since early May.

The investigation was beginning to look suspiciously like a case of a runaway adult, but the family provided detectives with an interesting clue. While interviewing family members, investigators Lamb and Stedman were told by many of them to look into Terrence Moss, Tamika's ex-boyfriend. Several family members mentioned to the detectives that Tamika and Terrence had recently gone through a turbulent breakup. Armed with a name, they ran a background check on Terrence and discovered he had a criminal record. There was an incident at her house where...

She accused him of hitting her and striking her. However many flares can go off in a law enforcement officer's mind, that's how many would have gone off with Terrence Wallace. A further check revealed an interesting twist in the investigation.

Terrence was scheduled to appear in court for domestic violence charge a week after Tamika was reported missing. The charge, ironically, was laid by Tamika, who had conveniently vanished before the hearing. This provided detectives with a possible motive. They had two possibilities. Firstly, Tamika could have fled the city to avoid appearing in court and testifying against Terrence.

The second possibility, however, was more sinister. Terrence could have abducted Tamika and may have been holding her hostage in order to have the charges against him dropped for her lack of appearance in court. They couldn't rule out either possibility, so their next step was to call in Terrence. On June 23, 2004, Terrence voluntarily went to the Spartanburg police station after detectives called him in for an interview.

He told detectives he was there to help them in any way possible in order to find Tamika. Detectives, however, were more interested in his relationship with Tamika. Terrence explained that he and Tamika met in the year 2000 and were living together until March 2004. Detectives then told Terrence that they were aware of what happened between the couple. He confessed to hitting Tamika after they had an argument over his alleged affairs.

Tamika then told him to move out and filed a domestic abuse charge against him. And I fell down on my knees and I started praying and I was like, it's just so many demons in here that, you know, we're becoming physical with each other now that we just need to separate. When detectives presented their theories to what they believe may have happened to Tamika, Terrence denied any involvement in her disappearance. He told officers that he regretted his actions during their argument and was genuinely concerned for her safety after he heard she was missing. Terrence became a person of interest after his interview with detectives.

But without any physical evidence to link him to Tamika's disappearance, he was released. Investigators, however, were not slowing down in their search for Tamika. They started by looking at recent hospital admissions and through files at local mortuaries for any Joanne Does who may have been reported between May and June 2004. They'd also looked through the accident reports and 911 calls that were made between that same time period.

It was then that they came across a rather distressing piece of information. Someone had called to report the murder of a woman and explained that her body was dumped in the Cleveland Park Lake, not very far from Tamika's house. The call was made in June, around the same time she was reported missing.

Investigators launched an immediate search of the area. Divers were sent into the lake and searched it thoroughly. Investigators on the ground also looked for body among the hedges and trees using cadaver dogs.

Hours later, the search was called off after investigators concluded that there was no body to be found. To detectives, it sounded like a call made to detract their investigation. They tried to trace the call back to a location, but discovered it was made from a prepaid cell phone or burner phone near Cleveland Park Lake.

In a way, it provided hope for detectives because they believed Tamika may still be alive and could be rescued. Meanwhile, Tamika's family continued to keep the public informed about Tamika and her disappearance. They offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who could provide information that would lead to Tamika's discovery.

Detectives received numerous tips, many of which were bogus. The leads that seemed promising ended up being cases of mistaken identity, leading investigators to dead ends. However, Tamika's family were not ready to throw in the towel, and their persistence would lead investigators to another promising lead.

In July 2004, a month after Tamika was reported missing, a woman called the Spartanburg Police Department to report an abandoned car in her Barksdale apartment parking lot. A woman saw the flyer and... Saw the description picture of the car on there and said, you know, this looks like a car that's parked behind Barksdale Apartments.

It wasn't just any car. The woman said it looked similar to the car in the missing person's posters all over the city. Investigators and forensic units rushed to the Barksdale apartment complex that was located just four miles away from where Tamika lived. The car looked exactly like the one Tamika owned, and after checking the number plates against their records, investigators confirmed that it was, in fact, her car. What investigators still needed to determine was whether Tamika abandoned the car herself.

or if someone else had parked it in the apartment complex. Forensic teams searched through the car looking for any clues. There was no blood or scuff marks to suggest a struggle had occurred.

However, after dusting down every surface, they found a partial fingerprint on the steering wheel. Under the front passenger seat, investigators discovered a set of keys. After weeks of searching for Tamika, they finally located a piece of evidence that could possibly unlock more answers in their investigation. Investigators questioned residents at Barksdale about whether they'd seen anyone parking the car in the apartment parking lot. One resident said he'd seen a single African-American man park the car and walk away.

Another said he saw two African-American men abandoning the car. The reports were conflicting. Investigators had to rely on the evidence they found to point them in some direction. The partial fingerprint and the set of unknown keys.

The fingerprint was uploaded to the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, but there is no match in the system. This allowed investigators to eliminate Terrence as a suspect. The only other clue investigators had was the set of keys.

Detective J. Stedman began the process of elimination by using the keys to unlock Tamika's car, but none of them worked. He then visited her house and tried using the keys to unlock the doors of the house. That too turned out to be a dead end. Investigators reasoned that if the keys did not belong to Tamika, then they must have belonged to the person responsible for her disappearance. A A further look at the keys revealed a stamp with the code AA14 on the surface.

These keys were then taken to all local locksmiths for identification. Fortunately, one of the locksmiths identified the key immediately. He told detectives that the keys were made for the Fremont School apartment complex in Spartanburg.

Investigators learned the apartment complex was once an elementary school that had been converted into public housing. There were 46 apartments in total, and investigators tried the keys out on every door. When they believed their luck had finally run out, the key unlocked a basement apartment which had been abandoned due to flooding. Nevertheless, investigators collected whatever evidence they could and sent this to the crime lab for testing.

They also questioned the apartment complex maintenance man, who told them the basement apartment had been empty for a long time. He then explained the policy of the apartment's management team. The doorknobs on each apartment were switched around after a tenant was evicted.

This avoided non-paying tenants from using their keys to re-enter the flat without the manager's knowledge. However, the apartment's records were not kept in good order, so he was unable to tell investigators from which apartment the doorknob had been exchanged. He was, however, able to provide investigators with a list of former tenants.

The results from the crime lab were disappointment. They didn't provide any evidence that proved Tamika had been in the apartment. Investigators then turned to the list of names of former tenants.

Tamika's family didn't recognize any of the names on the list, but a close friend of hers said one of the names sounded familiar. He best friend mentioned there's this guy named Christopher that she started seeing around the time of her disappearance. For Tamika's family, the news was unexpected.

Tamika's friend told investigators that Tamika mentioned a man named Christopher with whom she'd recently started dating after her split from Terrence. She wasn't sure about his last name, but there was a tenant on the list named Christophertopher Houston. Investigators ran a background check on Christophertopher. The results raised many eyebrows. 23-year-old Christophertopher had a criminal history.

He was convicted on a charge of bank robbery in May 2000 and had served four years for the crime. He was in the middle of serving a 30-day sentence after being arrested for a traffic violation. Because he'd broken the conditions of his parole, Christophertopher was sent to jail without a hearing. However, at the time of Tamika's disappearance, He was not in jail and had also been evicted from his flat at the Fremont School apartment a month after she was reported missing. After locating him, investigators brought Christophertopher in for questioning in late June 2004. He admitted that he was dating Tamika, but said he wasn't responsible for her disappearance.

When they asked Christophertopher where he thought Tamika was, he responded by saying she'd mentioned something about going to bike week. She said, I want to go to bike week. She said who she was going with? No, she didn't say.

She said she was gone. Did you see her at any point after that? No, that's the last time I seen her. His fingerprints were checked against the partial print found in Tamika's car. Investigators were certain that Christophertopher's fingerprints would match.

However, their hopes at finding a lead hit an unexpected dead end. The fingerprints were not a match. Investigators were at a loss. Every lead they had was drying up. With no physical evidence to link him to Tamika's disappearance, police allowed him to return to jail.

He was released after serving his time in mid-July 2004. It had been almost three months since Tamika's disappearance when investigators received yet another promising lead. It was an unexpected twist in the case. Within days of Christophertopher being questioned, a woman contacted investigators about Tamika's case.

The woman who called identified herself as the ex-wife of Christophertopher Houston. She told investigators that she knew Christophertopher was dating Tamika at the time of her disappearance and she was following the case in the local media. The woman told investigators she might have some evidence they would be interested in. She revealed that she was in possession of Christophertopher's wallet. She explained that he'd mailed her his wallet for safekeeping while he served out his sentence.

Inside the wallet, she found a red spot on one of the pictures he kept of her and their two children. She agreed to hand over the wallet to investigators if they were willing to fetch it from her. The detectives jumped at the opportunity and paid Christophertopher's ex-wife a visit.

After retrieving the wallet, they sent the photo to be tested for traces of human blood. The red spot was confirmed to be human blood. Investigators then contacted Tamika's parents Anthony and Gabriella and asked them to submit DNA samples to test against the blood sample.

After a month of waiting, the results were ready. It turned out that the blood on the photo belonged to Tamika. Once again, investigators tracked down Christophertopher and brought him in for questioning.

He denied having done anything to Tamika and argued that the blood could belong to anyone. Investigators told them that DNA evidence didn't lie, but Christophertopher remained adamant about his innocence. Whatever happened to Tamika happened right there in your apartment. Yeah, I'll delete that. How do you know that was?

It could be in my blood. No, it can't be anybody's blood. How long do you think we've been doing this?

You don't know that we can tell one person's blood from another blood? No. You ever heard of DNA? Yeah. Investigators knew that Christophertopher was responsible for harming Tamika, as the blood evidence proved that he was near enough to cause her some physical harm.

However, they understood that the evidence was circumstantial at best. Without a body, the evidence they had may not be able to stand up in court or in front of a jury. There was no way to prove if Christophertopher had murdered Tamika, or if she'd simply been injured and escaped without informing anyone.

Had Christophertopher been responsible for Tamika's death without a body and an autopsy, there was no way to prove if it was murder, manslaughter, accidental, or self-defense. Investigators'hands were tied. As time dragged on, Tamika's case remained open, but leads were far in view.

Toward the end of 2004, though, another surprising lead presented itself. This was the lead that was going to blow the case wide open. The young woman made contact with detectives from the Spartanburg Police Department. She claimed to have been dating Christophertopher during May 2004. According to the young woman, she'd been inside Christophertopher's apartment, apartment 215, around the time Tamika disappeared and made note of several odd things. There was a large reddish-brown stain on the bedroom floor, and his dresser had been pushed up against the closet door.

She told investigators she didn't want to alert Christophertopher to what she'd noticed. Instead, she spent the night with them in his apartment. When investigators questioned her further, they discovered she was only 15 years old at the time of Tamika's disappearance.

She was also afraid of Christophertopher's retaliation if he discovered she was the one who snitched on him. This information was kept quiet by the investigative team as they worked to secure a warrant to search apartment 215 based on the new lead. Investigators remained cautiously optimistic as they knew it had been too long since Tamika disappeared, and whatever physical evidence remained could have been contaminated by the new tenants living in the apartment.

In July 2005, 14 months after Tamika disappeared, investigators obtained the search warrant for Christophertopher's former apartment. Forensic specialists joined investigators as they prepared to enter the apartment. The information provided by the young woman was accurate. It was obvious someone had tried to clean up something in the bedroom.

On the carpeted floor was a large patch that had been bleached clean. When forensic investigators cut out the top layer of carpet, they found a large amount of dried blood. Investigators then sprayed luminol around the bedroom, and the scene lit up in front of them when they switched the lights off. In the closet, investigators discovered huge patches of blood.

DNA testing was sped up. as investigators already had Tamika's parents'DNA in storage. The results came back as belonging to Tamika.

It was a heartbreaking moment for investigators as they broke the news to Tamika's devastated family. They surmised that Tamika may have been locked in the cupboard and bled to death while Christophertopher entertained an underage girl in the apartment that night. From the amount of blood evidence left behind, investigators were sure that Tamika was dead. It just took all the life out of me because I knew that, uh, Hey, my daughter was in an apartment and there was enough blood that my daughter could have died.

What they needed to do now is find her body and give her family the peace they deserved. On Friday, August 12, 2005, Christophertopher was arrested for the murder of Tamika Houston and taken in for questioning at the Spartanburg police station. Christophertopher remained silent as investigators presented the evidence they found.

Knowing the evidence they had against him was irrefutable, Christophertopher stood up and told investigators he was ready to go. He then told them he was going to show them where he buried Tamika. He stands up and he says, let's go.

We said, where are we going? Are we going to the jail? Are you going to show us where she's at? He says, I'll show you where she's at.

That afternoon, Christophertopher led police to a dense wooded area about 12 miles away from the city center. He pointed out the exact spot where he buried Tamika in a shallow grave. He told investigators he was sure that this was the spot because he'd laid two branches in the shape of a cross as a marker on the grave. Forensic team set out to dig up the graves and found the skeletal remains of a female body. The skull, however, was missing, but the lower jaw was found.

The remains were taken to a crime lab and the teeth of the lower jaw were compared to Tamika's dental records. It was a match. It was really a difficult time for our entire family to see my sister suffer so much. You never really recover fully from... Losing someone in that way.

Christophertopher was taken back to the interrogation room where he confessed to what had happened that night and how he killed Tamika. According to Christophertopher, Tamika had come to his apartment while he was getting ready to go out for the night. She demanded money from him, but he told her that he was trying to save money for the child he was expecting with another woman. This angered Tamika as she was still upset about his apparent infidelity.

The argument between the two escalated and in a fit of anger, he hit her in the head with a hot iron. She started to bleed out in the bedroom floor and he hurriedly wrapped her body in some bedsheets before stepping out. stuffing her into his closet. He then propped the dresser up against the door in case the door accidentally opened and her body rolled out.

Afterwards, he went out for the night and returned home with a young woman who he knew was underage. They had dinner in the apartment and then spent the night together. The next morning, he borrowed a friend's car and drove around with Tamika's body before finding a suitable place to bury her Afterward, he drove Tamika's car to another apartment complex and abandoned the vehicle Unknowingly, he dropped his set of keys in the car While in jail awaiting trial, Christophertopher gave reporters interviews and claimed that killing Tamika was an accident.

He said that he felt deep regret every time he watched the news and saw Tamika's family reaching out to people for help in finding Tamika. He stated that a few months after he buried Tamika, he returned to the wooded area and dug up her body. He claimed that he intended to go to the police and turn himself in for committing the crime.

However, he developed cold feet and changed his mind. Instead, he removed her skull and threw it in a dumpster in the city. Investigators said that Tamika was a woman who had been in the city for a long time. Investigators believed his motive was to avoid police discovering both their identity and the extent of injuries he actually inflicted on Tamika.

Spartanburg County Prosecutor Trey Gowdy began preparing for the murder trial against Christophertopher Houston. Investigators provided physical evidence, witness statements, and an actual recorded confession making the state's case against Christophertopher airtight. Christophertopher pleaded not guilty. not guilty of his arraignment and remained in the Spartanburg County Jail until his trial was set to begin in April 2006. In the final week of March 2006, jury selections took place.

On Monday, April 3, 2006, Christophertopher's murder trial began. In a shocking twist, Christophertopher asked the judge permission to address the court. He decided to change his plea to guilty.

Christophertopher's defense team argued for the judge to consider his admission of guilt as a sign of remorse and sentence him to a maximum term of 40 years behind bars. Tamika's family were present at the trial, and the judge allowed her mother, Gabriella, to speak on their behalf before he passed the sentence. She told the court that Christophertopher deserved a life sentence. He'd put them through tremendous suffering for over 15 months and had taken from them the light of their lives.

Christophertopher was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains behind bars at Broad River Prison in South Carolina. Recent reports from the prison show Christophertopher in a less than favorable light. He is known to have broken several prison rules and has had many privileges revoked as a result.

Tamika's disappearance may have been a tragedy for her family and friends, but in a way, it helped highlight a social issue within the media industry itself. In 2004, when Tamika was declared missing, the media coverage in her hometown was extensive. However, her family had no success in getting her story out nationally. Tamika's disappearance was overshadowed by the cases of Lacey Peterson, Lori Hacking, Jennifer Wilson, and Natalie Holloway.

I think a number of years, particularly the cable... networks, they found a formula that worked. When they covered these cases like they were soap operas with constant updates and little twists and turns, they saw, you know, people were engaging online, people were tuning into these stories, so that worked for them and they kept doing it.

It was around 2005 that the term Missing White Woman Syndrome was coined. It referred to the media's extensive coverage of cases involving white women over people of color. Rebecca saw the unfair news coverage and tried to change her approach.

He attempt to bring attention to cases of missing women of color had an impact. Derica, a retired police officer, and his sister-in-law, Natalie Wilson, had noticed the intense fight Tamika's Aunt Rebecca had put up to have her story heard. Inspired by Rebecca and Tamika's story, the Wilson sisters founded the Black and Missing Foundation in 2006. The nonprofit organization aimed to bring awareness to missing persons of color and provide the families of these people with the vital resources and tools to cope through the difficult times.

The foundation also worked to educate the minority community on personal safety. date, they've brought closure to over 300 missing persons cases and have produced a docuseries titled Black and Missing that was inspired by Tamika's case. In 2022, Tamika's story became the focus of a podcast titled Finding Tamika.

The podcast is centered around Tamika's disappearance and subsequent murder. In the telling of Tamika's story, the producers included the impact Tamika's case had on the missing women's coverage conversation. It's also helped highlight the invisibility of women of color when it comes to missing missing persons cases.

Following the death of Tamika, her family continued to suffer with her loss. Although her Aunt Rebecca used their family tragedy to help the minority community, Tamika's father Anthony never fully recovered from her death. According to Anthony's friend Mike Fowler, he was a successful man who had a smile that could light up a room. He described Anthony as being driven to find Tamika when she was reported missing. After Tamika's death, Anthony became a shell of his former self.

On January 9th, 2017, tragedy struck the Houston family once more. Paramedics were called to the home of Anthony Houston. Exactly who had made the call was never made public. He was found dead in the home he shared with his wife, Joanne.

He'd suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Joanne, too, had been shot and was still alive when emergency services arrived. However, she later died in hospital.

The investigation concluded that it was an apparent murder-suicide. Friends close to the couple said there were never any visible signs as to what led to such a tragedy. The couple were the picture of love and devotion.

It was clear that no one else would understand what issues they were battling in their personal lives. The impact of Tamika's death was felt in two ways within her family. He Aunt Rebecca used the tragedy to create awareness and bring about a change, while her father, Anthony, suffered in silence to the very end.

It also serves as a reminder to women to be wary of the company they keep. Our case today opens many channels for debate, but here are some things for you, our viewer, to consider. Do you think Tamika's case will have the impact her Aunt Rebecca wants? Do you believe that Christophertopher Houston felt any remorse for killing Tamika?

Is the missing white woman syndrome trend still a cause for concern in current media trends? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. Also, please remember to subscribe to our channel, like and share our videos with like-minded individuals. If you have a true crime story you'd like us to cover, leave us a message in the comments section below.

Until next time, stay safe.

Transcript for:M7 Crime Storytime: The Case of Tamika Houston

Transcript for:
M7 Crime Storytime: The Case of Tamika Houston