Post by Scumhunter on Oct 29, 2024 16:07:46 GMT -5
From wsfa.com:
PRATTVILLE, Ala. (WSFA) - Prattville is a growing and thriving community. It seems like every day there’s another groundbreaking in the area, more homes being built, and more businesses are popping up. But with all this growth, Mary Virginia Harris worries that her daughter’s murder will be forgotten.
“There’s so many new people in Prattville. Some don’t even know it happened,” she said.
On Sept. 1, 1989, 16-year-old Tashynina Reese, known as “Tasha,” disappeared. She was a student at Prattville High School at the time and was living with Harris.
“Tasha was not my birth daughter, but she was my daughter,” Harris said.
Harris loved Tasha. It’s been decades now since Tasha’s disappearance and death, and at her home in Prattville, Harris still has her photos, clothing and anything she can to keep her memory alive.
When Tasha was a baby, her biological mother died. Harris took her in and loved her like she was her own.
“I loved Tasha,” she said. “She was just the sweetest girl. She enjoyed school, she loved church, and she loved hugging people. She gave the best hugs.”
That day in September, Harris remembers getting her last hug from Tasha. She was heading off to school with plans to go to a football game later that night.
“She said, ‘Mom, I love you.’ I said, ‘I love you too, Tasha,’ and she went out the front door and got on the school bus and that’s the last day I saw her alive,” she said.
Tasha walked out of that door and disappeared. Harris said she doesn’t know if she ever made it to the football game or who she was with — she just vanished.
Then, two days later, her body was found floating in the Alabama River on the Montgomery side. The 16-year-old had been murdered.
“They just threw her into the Alabama River,” Harris said in tears. “I still have so many questions. Who killed Tasha? Why did they kill Tasha?”
Now, 35 years later, there’s a renewed push to solve this case. Recently, police, City Council members and family members came together to remember the girl forever 16. If Tasha Reese were alive today, she would’ve turned 51 this year.
Authorities and Harris’ family seem hopeful that with new detectives and new technology, they may finally close this case.
“For the first time in a long time, I am optimistic,” Harris said.
“It’s been years now, but we are still hopeful that someone will come forward,” said Prattville City Councilman Marcus Jackson. “I just don’t understand how you could possibly sleep at night knowing that this family is still suffering.”
Since this is still an open case, anyone with information should contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office at 334-832-2550 and ask for the cold case unit.
www.wsfa.com/2024/10/29/prattville-teens-murder-remains-unsolved-35-years-later/
Thoughts? I am placing Tasha’s case in the National Media section since the “Two Blonde Sleuths” podcast did an episode on her case:
open.spotify.com/episode/2r9r4b0SEV6VX4QZtVSL0N
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