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in: Michigan, Ohio, 2018,
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Tammy Williams

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Real Names: Tamera Renee Williams
Aliases: Tammy Williams, Tamera Renee Pierce
Wanted For: Murder, Dismemberment, Tampering with Evidence
Missing Since: October 18, 2018

Case[]

Details: Tammy Williams is wanted for the murder of her thirty-nine-year-old boyfriend, David Carter. He lived in the Gale Gardens Apartments in Melvindale, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He had a full-time job at Magna Seating Plant, an automotive manufacturing plant. On the side, he started a casual clothing line called "Lavish Habits Unlimited". He also volunteered with the Melvindale Junior Football League.
David's father, Elton, describes him as "serious" but fun-loving, tall, handsome, athletic, and smart. David's sister, Tasia Carter-Jackson, considered him her best friend. She would always call him for advice. She describes him as nice, kind, and sweet to others. He worked hard and took pride in everything he did.
David and his friend, Angela Curry, met when they were both nine. He was her best friend and someone she could trust. But they had a boundary wherein they always kept their relationship platonic. He told her he always wanted to get married and have a family. She remembers he was always a stand-up guy, and once he became a father, it "upped a level."
According to Elton and other family members, everything in David's life revolved around his sixteen-year-old son, David "DJ". He was a very involved father. DJ says he and David's relationship was like that of best friends. They were always doing something together. DJ always looked up to David. Their bond was something that could not be broken.
DJ's mother, Samia Conner, says she liked David from the moment they first met. At the time, she was nineteen and he was twenty. He was funny and made her laugh. They dated and had a good time together. When DJ was born, David was excited. Samia says he ran out in the hallway, screaming, "I got a boy!"
Samia and David were together off and on from 2000 to 2014. But after they ended their relationship, they remained close as co-parents for DJ. Tasia says that David had lots of female friends. After he and Samia stopped dating, he had several girlfriends and relationships.
In mid-March 2018, David brought a new woman, Tammy Williams, with him to visit Tasia. Tammy and David had gone to high school together. They reconnected at a mutual friend's birthday party. Soon after, they began a relationship. Tammy worked as a phlebotomist for the Detroit Medical Center. She had previously worked as a travel agent. She had eighteen-year-old twins – a son and a daughter.
Angela had met Tammy in high school. They, along with David, were all in the same graduating class. Angela remembers that Tammy's personality in high school was very bubbly. The two were "pretty solid" as friends. But after high school, they went their separate ways. Around March 2018, Angela found out that Tammy and David were dating, and it was a "brow-raiser." But she also wanted the best for David. If he was happy, then she was happy for him.
DJ recalls that Tammy and David spent a lot of time together. He thinks they spent almost every day together. He believed they were going to get married. Tasia says that David seemed happy. She believes that he and Tammy had a good time together. But, according to Tasia, Tammy became obsessed with him.
Elton normally tried to not get involved with his children's "affairs of the heart." But when they would have a family gathering, he noticed that Tammy would watch David. If David was talking to someone else, she would keep an eye on him. Tasia says that every day they saw David, Tammy was with him. Tasia did not "care for" Tammy from the moment they met. Everybody thought she was the "crazy little sister" who did not like anyone David dated. But she was adamant about not liking Tammy.
On Sunday, September 30, 2018, six months after David and Tammy started dating, DJ began preparing to go to David's house for the evening. That afternoon, Samia received a text message from David saying, "Hey I thought I was over this cold but I'm sick as hell throwing up and shitting, hot no voice…I don't think DJ should come over here tonight."
DJ tried to call and text David to see what was going on. David texted back, "I won't be able to answer the phone because I cant talk really sick." He said he did not want anyone around him. DJ told Samia that he had things at David's apartment that he needed to get. When DJ pulled up to the apartment, he saw Tammy taking out the garbage. When they walked past each other, he said, "Hey." She saw him but did not respond.
After Tammy dropped the garbage bag in the dumpster, she ran past DJ to David's apartment and locked the door. DJ thought it was strange that she had locked the door since she had seen him just seconds earlier. However, he had a key to the door, so he let himself in. Immediately, she came up to him and said, "Hey, DJ, what's going on?"
DJ asked Tammy if she had seen his phone charger. She said she had not. While walking through the apartment, he noticed that David's bedroom door was closed, which was odd. Tammy then closed the bathroom door, which DJ also thought was odd. While in his own room, he noticed that David's clothes were on his bed. David had never done that before, as he always left his clothes on his own bed.
When DJ went into his bathroom, he noticed gloves and cleaning products that had never been there before. After he picked up his things from his room, he told Tammy that he wanted to talk to David. But she told him that David had gone out for a walk. DJ thought that was weird since it was cold outside and David was apparently sick. But since he had to get to his grandmother's house, he decided to leave without waiting for David to come back.
David and his friend, Roger Davis, had known each other for nineteen years. They met while working together at a plant and became very close. The last time Roger saw David was on Thursday, September 27. They were supposed to work together on Sunday, September 30, but David did not come in that day. Roger says it was out of the ordinary for David to miss double time. David also failed to notify his boss, which was uncharacteristic of him.
By Tuesday, October 2, David had not been to work in three days. Roger knew something was not right. He called Tasia and told her about David missing three days of work. He asked if she could go to David's apartment and see if he was okay. She called David's phone, but it went straight to voicemail. Then, she called Tammy, who was at work. She asked Tammy if David was okay, but Tammy said she had not talked to him since Sunday.
Tasia and her husband, Derrick, went over to David's apartment. His car was still in the parking lot. They knocked on his door, but no one answered. Derrick grabbed the door handle and realized it was unlocked. Tasia started freaking out because David always locked his door. At that point, she knew something was not right. She and Derrick decided to call the police. They called Elton and Samia as well.
A Melvindale police officer arrived a short time later. He and Derrick went inside David's apartment but found no trace of David. The officer noticed nothing amiss, but did note that the apartment was "really clean." When Elton and Samia arrived, Elton asked the police officer if they could take a look inside the apartment. The officer agreed.
Tasia, Derrick, Elton, and Samia then went inside David's apartment. Samia looked around and thought that David would never leave it like that. His sheets were balled up and stuck in his closet. In his bedroom, they noticed that the bed was not made. Tasia says he was a neat freak and would never leave without making the bed. When she looked under the bed, she noticed a big red stain on the carpet and a bottle of peroxide. She also realized, based on an indentation in the carpet, that the bed had been moved to cover the stain.
Samia pulled the comforter off the bed and found what appeared to be blood on the mattress. At the top of the mattress was a hole. Elton also discovered a hole in the bottom left-hand corner of the closet door. Being a soldier, he knew it was a bullet hole. Realizing something was wrong, he told everyone to get out of the apartment and not touch anything.
Tasia and the others told the police officer about what they had found. However, the officer did not seem concerned at the time. David's family started searching for him, calling jails, hospitals, and morgues. They also went to the Melvindale Police Department and filed a missing person report.
Melvindale Police taped off David's apartment and searched the complex and its dumpster. Michigan State Police crime lab technicians collected evidence from his apartment. Meanwhile, David's family waited, hoping that someone would find him. Tasia went on Facebook and asked, "If anyone knows the whereabouts of my brother…please speak up!"
That night, Tasia called Tammy at work and said, "I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is my brother?" She responded, "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen him since Sunday." But, according to Tasia, Tammy showed no concern after being told that David was missing. According to Derrick, Tammy went about her day like everything was normal.
Tasia finds it unbelievable that Tammy, who had been with David almost every day for six months, did not leave work to help find him. Samia says Tammy was nowhere to be found. She says that despite being David's girlfriend, Tammy did not seem to be as worried as everybody else. Elton says Tammy never called any of them to see if David was okay.
Meanwhile, on Monday, October 1, one day after DJ visited David's apartment and one day before he was reported missing, grass mowers for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) discovered a sleeping bag in the weeds next to Interstate 75 near Milepost 149 in Eagle Township, Ohio (more than 100 miles from David's home). Matt Clay of ODOT picked up the bag and realized that something heavy was in it. He immediately called the police.
An Ohio State Trooper arrived and opened up the sleeping bag. Inside was the dismembered lower half of a body. Lucas County Coroner Diane Scala-Burnett examined the body. There were attached legs and buttocks, but everything from the belly button upward was gone. It had been severed. She believed the body was that of a black or biracial male. His inseam measured 36 inches, so he was a relatively tall person.
During the autopsy, coroners discovered a tattoo on the left upper leg of a pit bull with red eyes. The Ohio State Police sent out a law enforcement bulletin regarding the body. On Wednesday, October 3, Melvindale Police contacted Ohio authorities after they noticed the body partially matched David's description. They asked Ohio authorities to send them a picture of the tattoo.
Later that day, Melvindale's Chief of Police called Elton and asked him to look at the photograph of the tattoo. Elton told the chief that David had a tattoo of a pit bull on his leg. He then asked the chief if they had found David, and the chief said, "Yeah." Two days later, on October 5, DNA testing confirmed that the body was David's.
Elton says that being a soldier means death is a part of his life. But he never thought that it would happen to a family member in this manner. He says it has been really tough to lose David. Derrick went with Elton to the police department that day. He says there were a lot of emotions. While driving back, he realized he did not want to tell Tasia and see her face.
Tasia says that when Derrick pulled up, she could "see it all over his face." When he got out of the car, he hugged Tasia and told her that David was gone. She says she felt like she had been gut-punched. Elton says there was nothing harder than telling David's mother, Marie, that he was dead. She immediately broke down. Elton says it was like everything drained out of her. And there was nothing he could do but hold her.
DJ asked his uncle what had happened to David, but his uncle would not tell him at first. When DJ insisted, his uncle told him that they had found David dead and that his body had been chopped up. DJ walked away and did not want to look at anyone. He cried and felt full of anger and sadness.
Angela felt completely numb when she learned that David had been killed. She wanted to find out who did this to him. DJ says that he suspected Tammy from the start since she was the last person to see David. Samia felt that Tammy was the key to the case and that she knew what had happened to him.
David's family and friends believe that he was growing tired of Tammy. She rarely left his apartment and was extremely jealous and possessive of him. According to Tasia, a few weeks before David was murdered, he and a female cousin went to see a movie. When they returned to his apartment, all four of his tires were slashed. Tasia believes that David suspected Tammy was responsible. Tasia believes Tammy was mad that he had taken his cousin to the movies instead of her.
Elton says that Tammy was an angry person. Angela says that when a person is jealous and selfish, "there is no measure for what they will do." On Friday, September 28, three days before David's remains were found and two days before DJ went to his apartment, he and his family attended DJ's football game. It was the last time DJ, Tasia, and Samia saw David.
Samia remembers that David was watching the game, laughing, and joking with them. They were all having a good time. For some reason, David and Tammy did not sit together. She sat alone behind him and his family. Tasia asked him if he and Tammy were okay. He said Tammy "would be fine." Tasia figured that they had gotten into an argument (it was later confirmed that they had gotten into an argument that day). David and Tammy did not talk throughout the evening.
At one point, Samia looked around at the people in the stands. She noticed Tammy was looking straight at her. She says it was like she had "seen the devil." She can still see the look on Tammy's face.
Tasia last heard from David at around 10:30pm on the night of Saturday, September 29. He called her and asked if she could edit a video from the game so that he could post it online. She believed he was alone at the time. He mentioned that he had to be at work at 5am the next day. However, he never made it to work that day and was never seen again.
Tasia believes that David, tired of Tammy's possessiveness, broke it off with her that Friday night after the game. She thinks that whatever they were going through was the last straw for him, and Tammy could not accept it. She believes that Tammy was jealous of David's relationships with everyone, including his family and friends. But she never thought Tammy would be capable of murder.
Roger thinks that Tammy was so possessive that it was difficult for David to try and leave her. According to Roger, she knew David wanted to break up, and it made her angry. He believes she had the mentality of, "If I can't have him, nobody else can." Tasia told the police to look into Tammy. But the police did not tell David's family what they were doing or what they had found in their investigation.
On Friday, October 5, four days after David's remains were found, DJ had another football game. The head coach asked him if he needed time away from football, but he said no because he felt that David would not want him to do that. He says everyone was showing him love that night. His family and friends all sat next to each other in the stands.
David often told DJ the quote, "Whatever happens, just keep on going no matter what." Before the game, DJ told himself that he was going to play for David. That night, he felt like David was helping him play and do moves that he did not know he had in him. DJ's team ended up winning 64 to 0.
During the game, Elton called Tasia and told her that Tammy had been arrested. DJ says that everyone's spirits were lifted when they learned that she had been arrested. Tasia could not believe it had happened but was happy because she believed David would finally get justice. Three days later, however, on Monday, October 8, Tammy was released.
According to Andrew Battersby of the U.S. Marshals Task Force, on Friday, October 5, Tammy was brought to the Melvindale Police Department for questioning. They were only allowed to hold her for seventy-two hours unless they charged her with a crime. However, at the time, they felt they did not have enough evidence. They wanted to locate the rest of David's remains and determine the cause of death. Elton says that Tammy's release was like "a kick to the stomach."
On October 10, two days after Tammy's release and ten days after the lower half of David's body was found, his severed head was found along I-75 south of Findlay, Ohio. It was just a few miles north of where the lower half of his body was found. His head was in a small black duffel bag with red straps. It was wrapped in small grocery bags with handles. One of the bags was tied under his chin.
On October 16, the rest of David's remains were found along I-75, several miles to the north. The remains consisted of his upper torso and arms. They were wrapped in a comforter that was placed in a small, multicolored suitcase with bright flowers on it. His entire body had now been recovered. He had a gunshot wound below his left ear, near the back of his head. It exited through the top of his head. The gunshot wound was at very close range, with the gun almost touching his head.
Coroner Scala-Burnett found no evidence of defensive wounds or a struggle. There was no other evidence of injury anywhere on David's body. She was surprised that a tall, large man like him did not put up a fight. She wonders if he was asleep or incapacitated. An antihistamine was found in his bloodstream, which could have made him sleepy. She believes it was a "quick death."
Tasia thinks that on the night of Saturday, September 29, Tammy (who had an extra key to the apartment) went inside while David was asleep and shot him in the head. Elton believes that the texts sent from David's phone on Sunday, September 30, were sent by Tammy. Initially, Samia assumed that the text she received was from David because she did not have any reason to think otherwise. But when she went back and read the text, she realized that it was not worded the way he would have normally worded it.
Coroner Scala-Burnett theorizes that David's killer dismembered him because he was such a large person (6'4" and 190 pounds), and it would have been difficult to remove him from the apartment if his body was intact. She notes that he was separated by cuts. She does not believe it was done with a saw. She suspects it was done with an "average" kitchen knife. She says that the dismemberment would have taken some time because a person cannot quickly separate a body into three parts with a knife.
Tasia believes Tammy is a psychopath, noting that she allegedly shot David in the head, cut up his body, purchased the items his body was later found in, drove and scattered his remains along I-75, and then woke up and went to work for the rest of the week as if nothing had happened. After the rest of David's remains were found, his family waited for the police to re-arrest Tammy. On October 27, they held a memorial service for him.
On December 20, the police issued a warrant for Tammy's arrest, charging her with first-degree homicide, dismemberment, tampering with evidence, and felony firearms. However, she was nowhere to be found. For reasons unknown, David's family did not learn that she had fled the area until January 2019. Elton was upset that she was able to disappear and that the police were not watching her.
After Tammy went on the run, the police asked the U.S. Marshals to help search for her. Andrew Battersby says the U.S. Marshals get assigned fugitives who have committed heinous and serious crimes. He notes that this case was extremely brutal. He says it takes a "special" individual to cut someone's body up into pieces. He believes the crime was calculated, planned, and thought out.
Battersby considers Tammy a "dangerous" person. The weapon used to kill David has not been recovered. Battersby believes she is armed and dangerous. He has learned quite a bit about her during his investigation.
Shortly after Tammy was released on October 8, 2018, she made several phone calls to family members. On October 16, the same day David's upper torso was found, she was seen in Ann Arbor, Michigan. According to credit card receipts, she made several large cash withdrawals from a bar's ATM. A camera also recorded her eating at a restaurant. After her meal, she sat there for some time and had some drinks. She then went outside, got in a rickshaw, and had them take her back to her hotel.
The next morning, October 17, Tammy went to the train station in Ann Arbor and took an Amtrak train to Chicago, Illinois. She then took a train to Penn Station in New York City. While there, she checked into the Neptune Hotel in Brooklyn. At that point, no one was looking for her. When she checked, she used her name and driver's license. She paid for her room with $100 in cash and stayed the night there. The next morning, October 18, she was seen on camera leaving the hotel. She has not been seen since.
DJ often thinks about his visit to David's apartment that Sunday night. He sometimes wishes that he had gone into David's bedroom. But he also realizes that it was probably good that he did not go in there. He says there was something telling him not to go in there. He thinks something could have happened to him if he had gone in there.
Elton says that David's funeral was held in an auditorium that was completely packed with people. He says it was really overwhelming to see that many people there and realize that David had touched so many lives. During the service, many people spoke about him. Elton says it was very touching. He says everyone came up to him and Marie, talked about how they knew David, gave their condolences, and hugged them. Marie cried through the whole thing, and Elton felt helpless trying to console her.
Marie was diagnosed with cancer six days prior to David's murder. She was so heartbroken about his death that she stopped going to her cancer treatments. She passed away in January 2020. Tasia feels that Tammy was responsible for Marie's death along with David's.
Samia says there is not a day that goes by that she does not think of David. She thinks about DJ and all the things that he has accomplished. She knows that if David were still here, he would be proud. DJ is currently at Eastern Michigan University, playing football and majoring in business management. He has taken over David's clothing business.
DJ says he is doing okay, but he has had thoughts that almost make him want to "break down." For example, he thinks about how he does not have a father anymore. He says that if he had a few minutes with David, he would ask, "Are you proud of me and where I'm at?" He would also tell David that he loves and misses him.
Tasia says David's death left a hole in them that they will never be able to fill. She says, "You never know how much light somebody brings into a room until it's no longer there." She says her life has been dark without him. She misses their jokes and laughs. She misses their talks and their fights. She misses everything about him.
Tasia has faith that Tammy will get caught. Tasia knows that it will not bring David back, but it will at least allow his family to let him rest in peace.
Tammy is a black female, 5'5" - 5'9", and weighs approximately 180 to 200 pounds. She was born on March 18, 1979. She has brown eyes and short, brown hair with blond highlights. Based on her social media posts, she often changes her appearance. She has changed her hair from long to short and from blonde to brunette. She sometimes wears her hair in short braids. She may also wear a wig.
Tammy has a large rose tattoo on her left arm that goes from her elbow all the way up and over her shoulder. Battersby believes this tattoo will stand out. It is very distinctive and difficult to miss, cover up, or remove. He says that if she did get it covered, then there should be a tattoo artist out there who remembers doing that.
Tammy has worked as a travel agent and as a phlebotomist in a hospital. She is an experienced world traveler and has been known to frequent other countries. She has relatives in New York and Atlanta, Georgia. Investigators received information that indicated she may have been in Atlanta around February 2019.
Battersby has talked to Tammy's family; they claim they have not heard from her since she disappeared. He does not believe them. He believes someone is helping her financially and also providing her with a place to stay. She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic-sponsored women's organization, and authorities believe that another member may be helping her without even knowing she is a fugitive.
Several people close to Tammy have said that she is the type of person who "always needs to have a guy in her life." Battersby believes she is with another man now and fears that she will try to hurt someone else. There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to her arrest.
Extra Notes:

  • This case was first released on October 18, 2022 as a part of the third volume of the Netflix reboot. It was released in the first part of a three-week Halloween event.
  • It was previously profiled on America’s Most Wanted and In Pursuit with John Walsh. The former stated that Tammy was shown on surveillance video at a fish market in the Bronx in 2020.
  • Some sources state Tasia went to David's apartment on Monday night.
  • In September 2021, Tammy's mother, Verdine Day, was arrested and charged with bank and wire fraud after she allegedly stole over $200,000 from her Detroit Firefighters union. There is some speculation that she used some of this money to help Tammy.

Results: Wanted - Over ninety tips came in about Tammy's whereabouts following the broadcast. These tips were handed over to law enforcement. However, she remains at large.
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