Tamika Huston’s Family Wants to Spotlight POC Disappearances After Her Murder

During the summer of 2004, Tamika Huston seemingly vanished without a trace. The 24-year-old nursing student and aspiring singer lived alone in Spartanburg, S.C. When friends and family members didn’t hear from her for several days, they became increasingly concerned and reported her missing on June 14, 2004.

When officers visited Huston’s home, they discovered her dog alone and emaciated, along with a litter of struggling puppies. About a week later, they found Huston’s abandoned car at an apartment complex in another part of town. Inside the vehicle, they found a mysterious set of keys, which a locksmith helped trace to a man named Christopher Hampton. After some sleuthing, investigators learned Huston had started dating Hampton, who was convicted of robbing a bank not long before she went missing.

At first, Hampton told police he knew nothing about Huston’s disappearance. But when investigators later searched his apartment, they found bleach and traces of Huston’s blood on the carpet in his bedroom. They also detected Huston’s blood on a photo in Hampton’s wallet. Eventually, Hampton confessed to killing Huston. He told police he had been ironing his clothes on May 27, 2004, when the two started arguing about money. As the squabble escalated, Hampton swung the hot iron at Huston’s head. 

Hampton said he panicked, driving all night with Huston’s body in a friend’s car before digging a shallow grave in a wooded area. He secretly buried Huston there, marking the site with two tree branches he fashioned into the shape of a cross. Months later, Hampton dug up Huston’s body with the intention of turning himself in. But he lost his nerve and ended up reburying her remains, according to a jailhouse interview he gave to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Once Hampton was arrested and charged in August 2005, he led investigators to Huston’s body. A year later, he pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He remains incarcerated at the Tyger River Correctional Center.

The case was solved and Huston’s killer was brought to justice, but Huston’s friends and family were shocked and disheartened by the lack of national media attention given to her disappearance. Even Huston’s aunt, Rebkah Howard, an experienced public relations specialist, struggled to get coverage. She pitched the story far and wide, to broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox, but didn’t get a single response.

“When my niece went missing, as a publicist I thought, ‘Well, certainly I have the skills, the resources, the contacts. I know how to pitch a story. I know who to call, I know how to do it …’ And I was met with silence, and I was stunned,” she said during a 2024 panel discussion at the Crime Coverage Summit.

That silence wasn't just bad luck, however. It was a symptom of a larger problem—a well-documented pattern that’s been dubbed “missing white woman syndrome.” The phenomenon describes the tendency of law enforcement agencies and news outlets to focus primarily on cases involving young, white, upper-middle-class women—like Gabby Petito and Laci Peterson—while dedicating comparatively little time and attention to missing people of color. Media coverage is often crucial for solving missing persons cases. 

“It leads to tips, public awareness and pressure for action,” Brian C. Stewart, a trial attorney and managing partner at Parker & McConkie, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “When cases involving women of color don’t get attention, searches can stall, families may never get answers and justice may never come. It also leaves families feeling forgotten.”

Beyond these practical reasons, missing white woman syndrome is also deeply troubling from an ethical and moral standpoint, says Margaret McLean, a former prosecutor and the host of the It's A Crime podcast. 

“It sends an implicit message that some lives are more worthy of attention, concern and urgency than others,” she tells A&E Crime + Investigation. 

A variety of factors likely contribute to missing white woman syndrome, from predominantly white newsrooms and ratings-based coverage decisions to implicit biases and outright prejudice, according to Nancy La Vigne, dean of the Rutgers-Newark School of Criminal Justice. 

Systemic racism is a deeply entrenched, long-standing societal issue that may never be fully eradicated, but that doesn’t mean progress is impossible. Experts say targeted efforts can help address missing white woman syndrome—from boosting diversity in newsrooms to encouraging law enforcement agencies to implement standardized, public engagement protocols for all missing persons cases.

“Raising awareness is the best course of action, particularly educating journalists and editors,” La Vigne says. 

After learning about the lack of media attention given to Huston’s case, sisters-in-law Derrica and Natalie Wilson were inspired to take action. They founded the Black and Missing Foundation in 2008 to address the existing disparities.

People of color make up nearly 40% of all reported missing persons, according to statistics compiled by the foundation, yet many of those individuals never make the news. The Wilsons want to change that. Through their nonprofit, they create public awareness campaigns for print, television, radio and social media to help spread the word about missing people of color. They also help support families, from filing a police report to simply listening as they vent their frustrations. 

“It’s important for us to exist because we are the only nonprofit organization that is a voice for an often ignored group,” Natalie Wilson told HuffPost. “They’re ignored by law enforcement. They’re ignored by the media, and they’re ignored by the community. We all have a role to help find our missing and bring awareness to their disappearance.”