Shawtyeria Waites went missing after celebrating her 21st birthday, and authorities have indicated foul play and charged a suspect, but he is nowhere to be found.
Police are currently looking for the man who is suspected of killing Shawtyeria Waites.
Waites, 21, was reported missing on July 27, and was last seen on July 25 by her friend after celebrating her birthday.
While at the club with friends celebrating her birthday, she met a man who was later identified to be Jordan Potts, according to a local Houston news outlet. Potts was said to have invited them to his apartment.
Waites’ family told the outlet that her friends said that they dropped the young woman off at the Chimney Rock Road apartment complex before heading to the store to buy makeup.
Upon their return, neither Potts or Waites were present, and they were unable to reach the young woman after calling her cellphone for over an hour.
Witness statements alongside evidence verified that Waites and a friend had been dropped off at the apartment, and Waites was last seen alive on July 25 at approximately 8 p.m. outside of the apartment complex.
Family, friends, and activists like Quanell X spoke on social media and handed out flyers in an attempt to locate Waites.
According to a news release issued by the Houston Police Department, evidence of foul play was found on August 13, and the case was moved from missing persons to Houston Police Department Homicide Division.
Police shared during a news conference that Waites' remains were found in the Brookshire area on August 27, but authorities believe that she was killed the night she went missing and her body was placed in the trunk of Potts’ vehicle and transported to the new location.
His vehicle remains with Houston police, who seized it as evidence, and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science is conducting an official autopsy.
Potts’ whereabouts are currently unknown. Because the 26-year-old is originally from Oregon, and police believe that he may have connections in Montana, authorities say he could have left the state of Texas completely.
HPD authorities ask that anyone with information on the case or of Potts’ location contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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