This week on The Missing, the team is investigating the disappearances of two teenage girls, who both vanished without a trace.
Tabitha Tuders was only 13-years-old when she disappeared while on her way to school in Nashville, Tennessee. Shemika Cosey was 16-years-old when she vanished from her cousin’s home in the middle of the night in St. Louis, Missouri.
The disappearance of Tabitha Tuders
On April 29, 2003, Tabitha left her home at 7:30 am and set off for school. She was heading for a nearby intersection where she would be collected by the school bus.
Unfortunately, Tabitha never made it to the bus or into school and has not been seen by anyone since.
Nashville detectives were joined by numerous law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, and hundreds of possible leads have been investigated. But they’ve not given up.
In February 2020, detectives said they were investigating eight persons of interest. They believe that the girl may have been turned into a drug addict by her kidnappers and forced into prostitution.
Investigators say they remain hopeful that they can find Tabitha alive, and they stated there is no evidence to suggest she might be dead.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThe FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information that might lead to Tabitha’s recovery. Tabitha has a distinctive birthmark on her stomach and a scar on her finger, and both her ears are pierced.
The disappearance of Shemika Cosey
On December 28, 2008, Shemika Cosey was spending the night with her cousin, just outside St Louis, MO, when she vanished in the middle of the night.
The other members of the household awoke the next morning to discover Shemika was gone. The St. Louis police noted the unlocked door and said she must have run away, which meant a proper search for the teenager was never performed.
Shemika had taken her purse and coat with her but not her overnight bag. The family says that the night before, someone had been trying to get her attention from outside. She had apparently been in and out of the home several times.
Shemika’s mother, Paula Hill, also remembers seeing her daughter in a car with an older man not long before she went missing. Hill is concerned that her daughter might have been forced into prostitution.
A few years after the disappearance, Hill found another potential clue when she came across one of Shemika’s journals; in one entry, the teenager spoke of a previously unknown boyfriend and of telling him that she might be pregnant.
Anyone with any information on Shemika’s whereabouts should contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST / 1-800-843-5678.
More from The Missing
Follow the links to read about more investigations highlighted on The Missing.
Elaine Park and Matthew Weaver were two young adults who seemingly had promising lives ahead of them until they both disappeared in mysterious circumstances. For no apparent reason, both vanished from the North Los Angeles area.
Previously on The Missing, the show investigated the strange disappearances of Kristal Reisinger and Tyler Davis, who both inexplicably vanished while on a night out.
The Missing airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.