Taquila Sherell Hayes

• Missing Since 05/21/2019
• Missing From Memphis, Tennessee
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 02/22/1978 (46)
• Age 41 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4, 180 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Taquila's ears are pierced. Her nickname is Weda.

Details of Disappearance

Taquila clocked out of work at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was a nurse, on May 21, 2019. She never went to work again. She didn't show up at her nephew's graduation in Mississippi, and didn't contact her twelve-year-old son on his birthday. Her son lives with his biological father.

Her husband, Carl Hayes, stated he last saw her on or around June 8, when they decided to separate and she left their house on Starcross Lane with a friend, leaving all her belongings behind, and never returned. After Taquila's supervisor told Carl she was calling the police to do a welfare check on Taquila due to her absences from work, Carl told the supervisor that Taquila had quit.

Carl later admitted that he used Taquila's cellular phone after her disappearance and impersonated her in communications with others. He also threw away all her belongings and withdrew money from her bank account. Her family did not file a missing persons report until August 9, in part because Carl had misled them about Taquila's disappearance.

Carl and Taquila's marriage had been sometimes troubled. In 2012, she filed a domestic violence report against him. She stated they were separated at the time and when they met to talk about their son, they got into an argument and he slapped and choked her. A photo of Carl is posted with this case summary. When police searched the Hayes residence months after Taquila's disappearance, they noted there was new carpet in the living room, dining room and master bedroom, as well as new paint. They checked Taquila's car and it had new carpet as well.

In February 2020, Carl was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and tampering and fabricating evidence in Taquila's case. In August 2023, a few days before he would have gone to trial, he reached a plea deal, pleading guilty in exchange for a sentence of twenty years in prison.

Taquila's body has never been located, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.