Tyarra Williams had taken a gap year after she graduated from high school and was now ready to return to school. On the morning of the day she disappears, Tyarra gets her student ID and registers for her classes, which are scheduled to start the following week.

Guilford Technical Community College

Around 6:00 pm, Tyarra goes to her mother Danielle's apartment and the two make plans to go "back to school" shopping the following day to get textbooks, supplies, etc. Tyarra's brother joins them in taking down the Christmas tree. Tyarra's boyfriend, Aaron Taylor, also comes over. They all have dinner together at the apartment.

Danielle Williams' Apartment

Tyarra is last seen at the Stoneybrook Apartments parking lot around 8:30 pm with her boyfriend, Aaron, and her younger brother. They had all finished disassembling the Christmas tree at her mother's home. Tyarra is living with her grandmother, who lived in the same apartment complex, across from where her mother and brother lived. Tyarra tells Aaron and her brother that she is going to walk over to see a friend, Travis, who lives in the complex, and that she would return in an hour. Aaron and Tyarra's brother go to Aaron's house to play video games. Tyarra is last seen wearing blue jeans, a black jacket, a pink shirt, and a royal blue toboggan cap.

Tyarra's Grandmother's Apartment

One hour later, Tyarra has not returned home, nor has she texted Aaron. He goes to Tyarra's grandmother's house to wait for her but she never arrives. Aaron tries to call and text her, but it goes straight to voicemail. Police would later obtain copies of Tyarra's cell phone records, which would show that Tyarra did meet up with her friend "Travis" at his apartment as she said she would. GPS data suggests that she turned her location off - or her phone died - shortly after she arrived at the apartment. It is believed that "Travis" is an ex-boyfriend using an alias.

Tyarra's Grandmother's Apartment

By 7:00 am the next day, Tyarra has still not arrived home. Aaron had left the apartment to go to a pre-scheduled appointment. When he returns and notices Tyarra is still not home, he wakes up her grandmother Vanessa Neal, who also has not seen her. Neal tries calling Tyarra but no one answers - which is strange, because she only kept her phone off if she was working. Neal contacts Danielle, who checks Tyarra's room and notices she had left behind her purse and cell phone charger.

Tyarra's Grandmother's Apartment

Aaron informs Danielle about Tyarra visiting with "Travis" the previous evening. Danielle does not recognize the name, so she logs into Tyarra's Facebook. While looking through her friends, she notices that no one is named "Travis", but discovers that she was messaging an ex-boyfriend and that "Travis" was an alias.

By 8:00 pm Tyarra has still not returned home, so Danielle reports her missing to the Greensboro Police Department. She informs the police that Tyarra has no prior history of running away without communicating her plans.

The family plans a search within the Stoneybrook Apartment complex and neighboring area, but no one reports seeing Tyarra. Her family also puts up missing person fliers around the neighborhood.

Tyarra's missing persons case is given to the Crimes Against Persons Squad.

Police interviewed "Travis" but never reveal his real name to the media. "Travis" tells authorities that the two met up and talked in his car for about a half-hour before she exited the car and started walking back to her grandmother's apartment. Text messages were able to corroborate his story. It is likely he was the last one to see Tyarra. Police search his car and no evidence is uncovered. Police also interview another ex-boyfriend but quickly rule him out, as he was just as distraught as the family upon learning of her disappearance.

Police ask the media to push Tyarra's story. As a result, a hotline is set up. A sanitation worker immediately provides a tip claiming to have seen a disoriented girl matching Tyarra's description in the High Point area, which is about 20 minutes away from Tyarra's apartment. At the same time, another lady claims to have seen a girl resembling Tyarra on Textile Drive in Greensboro, also about 20 minutes away from the apartment but in the opposite direction of High Point. More tips are called in, one claiming that Tyarra’s body could be located in a trailer park across the street from her home. Police do a search, but nothing is found. 

HIgh Point Area

Danielle receives a message on her Facebook page from a server who worked at a waffle house in Jesup, Georgia. This individual claims to have seen Tyarra frequenting the restaurant with a group of people she didn't seem to like. A male member of Tyarra's family named Darryl (some sources indicate he is Tyarra's grandfather, others her uncle, and still others claim he is Danielle's son) follows up at the restaurant, but Tyarra never shows up. At the same time, he searches nearby hotels and in one, the manager recalls seeing a woman who resembled Tyarra with a man who was a known pimp. He contacts the authorities who follow up with the man and indeed, he is with a woman who is not Tyarra but strongly resembles her. Police think it possible that the sightings had been of this girl instead. More tips are called in, claiming Tyarra has been spotted around town or in an ad on Craigslist. Police become more certain that Tyarra is still alive, but is being trafficked.

Waffle House

After the spring thaw, police search creeks and rivers for Tyarra's body, but nothing is found. Authorities also again question her boyfriend Aaron about her disappearance, but he remains cooperative with authorities.

The individual claims they saw Tyarra at the DMV parking lot, and called out to the young woman. The woman replied that she didn't know Tyarra but she would be praying for her, which the family member thought was strange. When police review security footage, they see a woman who resembled Tyarra, but nothing further is discovered.