Published as: "Family of missing woman 'devastated' after her body found in shallow grave" on April 22, 2022 in the Tulsa World
The family of a woman who has been missing since January is devastated after a body found in a shallow grave last week was determined to be hers.
Detectives had been searching areas around the city for likely “dumping spots” for the body of Tyra Whitaker, who was last seen with her boyfriend, who is now accused of her death as well as the slayings of two other women, Tulsa Police Lt. Brandon Watkins said.
On Wednesday, during the third or fourth search for Whitaker’s body, a patrol officer found a shallow grave in a creek just north of the 12400 block of East Admiral Place, Watkins said.
After a forensic anthropologist excavated the body and the Crime Scene Unit processed the grave, the body was determined to be that of Whitaker, who Watkins said was likely placed there only a few days after her family last saw her.
Whitaker’s family, who until now did not know what happened to her, say they are devastated about the discovery but relieved that the uncertainty is over.
“As a family we are both devastated and relieved but we will not view Tyra as a victim but the beautiful soul that she is,” the family said in a statement.
“We are devastated because we will not see Tyra’s smile on this side of Heaven, yet we are relieved that the daily cycle of not knowing, wondering and worrying if she is OK is finally over.”
The family said they will grieve for the loss of Whitaker, 24, then turn their attention toward getting justice for her, as Watkins said a murder charge for Whitaker’s death is expected to be filed against her boyfriend, Terryl Brooks, who is already charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Star Rainbow Dancer, 69, and Elizabeth Dillard, 27.
As of Monday afternoon, Brooks had not been charged in Whitaker’s death.
Now suspected or accused of three separate slayings, questions of Brooks’ status as a possible serial killer have arisen, but Watkins said he might not fit the criteria for that label.
“I’m not sure he is a serial killer,” Watkins said. “I think there are some very defined characteristics of a serial killer, and I’m not sure he fits that. We’re just working him as a guy who killed three unfortunate women.”
Watkins said detectives could be narrowing down the motives in Dancer’s and Dillard’s slayings but that they need to talk to still more people before they feel certain. Brooks is not being cooperative, so detectives are having to rely on other means to figure out what happened.
“We haven’t gotten much from Brooks that I’m aware of,” Watkins said. “But that’s the thing: When people don’t talk, we find other ways of getting what we need.”
Watkins also said they can’t rule out the possibility that there are additional victims, since Whitaker was likely killed in January and Dancer and Dillard were not killed until late March and early April.
“When we had the first two, we thought, ‘This is not something you see every day,’” he said. “Then the third one (Whitaker) popped up.”
Tulsa police are reaching out to other departments, going as far as North Carolina, where Watkins said Brooks got into legal trouble over a shooting, to see if any recent homicides there match.
“We certainly can’t discount the idea,” he said.
Even though the possibility of more victims is there, Watkins said police are working to bring justice to the families of the three known victims.
“All we can do, going forward, is make it as right as we can,” he said. “But these people are still missing their loved ones, and I don’t think we could ever replace that for them.”
Whitaker’s family also said they are committed to helping other families who have lost loved ones to violence.
“We also commit to take the pain from our tragedies and transform them into purpose to help ourselves and empower others who share the horrible experience of losing a loved one by violence,” they said in the statement.