I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Solkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali . Your co -host, Eli. Welcome back, everyone. There's been life in these past few weeks for us over here at Cold and Missing, but we are very happy to be back this week. The phrase, when it rains,
it pours, has never been more true. So it has been pouring here, but I think the sunshine is peaking out and we are back on schedule with cold and missing. Thank you for hanging with us. Thank you for coming back. We always appreciate being a part of your week. To get right into it, we are on episode 132 this week. Missing person case. Let's go ahead and get into it. So just as a bit of a content warning at the
top, this case does involve a young person. Today, we are talking about the missing person case of Ameera Deadrick . And this takes place in the fall of 2016 in Houston, Texas. I wanted to take a second here just at the top to make a quick note about the timeline today. It's going to be very different than the timelines that I've covered in the past. There's a lot of information missing. With that said, let's just go ahead and get into it and learn a little bit more about
Amira. Ameera is described as being an intelligent and sassy little girl. She was fearless in how she approached the world. We'll have a couple photos of Ameera on our Instagram, at coldandmissing, but she has a huge smile that crinkles into her eyes, and you can almost hear the laughter that sits just behind the smile, so please go check those out. So for the timeline today, we really need to start at the beginning of Amira's life.
She was born October 1st, 2008, and her mother, Tiara McWilliams, was in an unhealthy relationship with her father, Anthony Diedrich. Tiara says that the relationship was abusive, and just a few months after Ameera was born, she fled with her daughter to the Midwest. Anthony threatened her for leaving. said he would make her pay for taking his daughter away. Once Tiara and Amira were safe in the Midwest, slowly, over the first few years of Amira's life, Tiara and Anthony
begin to talk again. They both ended up in a place where they were texting every day and Anthony would even come up and visit them from time to time and spend time with Ameera. Ameera and her mother were mostly living between Wisconsin and Illinois, so Anthony would come up from Texas to visit them there. At the beginning of the summer of 2013, so Ameera is four years old and Tiara agrees to let her spend the summer with Anthony and his girlfriend in Houston, Texas.
The plan was for her to come home at the end of the summer. As the summer of 2013 comes to a close, Tiara tried to make plans for Anthony to bring Ameera back, but he refused. He wouldn't bring her back home as they had previously agreed. So in the spring of 2014, Ameera would be five years old now, and this is just a few months after Anthony refused to bring her home. Tiara heads to Houston, Texas to bring her daughter
back home. Anthony again refused to let Amira go with her mother, and he went a step further and refused to let the two of them spend any time alone. She says, quote, her father was very strict about allowing me to see her. He wouldn't allow her to stay in my hotel room by herself. He wouldn't leave her with me. He just monitored the whole visit. Tiara called the police for help. But because there was no formal custody agreement between the parents, the police refused
to assist in the matter. Eventually, Tiara headed back to the Midwest without her daughter. This time when she went home, there was a noticeable shift. It became harder and harder for her to get a hold of her daughter. While communication was not perfect, it continued like this for the next few years. Tiara and Ameera would keep in contact over the phone and by using video calls. Tiara also started the legal process of getting her daughter back and getting a formal custody
agreement in place. Around April 1, 2016, so Ameera would be 7 years old at this point, she appears on a Facebook video. The video appears to have been taken at a Chuck E. Cheese, likely in Houston. The FBI say that this is the last confirmed sighting of Amira. However, it appears that Ameera and Tiara still communicated after that Facebook video at Chuck E. Cheese. However, abruptly in the summer of 2016, all communication
stops. Tiara tried to contact anyone who may know where Ameera is, but no one was helpful. She says, quote, phones started getting disconnected. I couldn't reach out to anyone. No one was returning any of my phone calls or even opening my messages on Messenger. According to reports, people in Houston reported seeing Ameera in the fall near her birthday, but it doesn't appear that anyone can produce any photos or videos of proof of this. That fall of 2016, Anthony Dedrick goes
to prison. It takes months for Tiara to learn this. She doesn't learn it until spring of 2017, and at this point, Anthony has been in jail for months. She says, quote, I knew something was wrong when I found out he was in jail. I could feel it in my body. Houston Police Department wouldn't help me, so I contacted police where I lived, and they reached out to the HPD and the Attorney General's office, who then opened a case for Amira. When the case is opened, Amira
is eight years old. And finally, police start looking for her. Her mother says, quote, she had never been enrolled in school. She had never been to the doctor. So now everybody's wondering, okay, where is this little girl? Who has her? Police head straight to the prison where her father was serving time. Police begin questioning Anthony on Amira's whereabouts. Police say, quote, Her biological father says he gave custody of Ameera to a lady that he had met at a convenience
store somewhere in the Waco area. He said her name was Linda, but some people knew her as Tuti. But we could not locate or verify that this woman ever existed. Anthony told police that someone named Linda, who also went by Tuti, was watching Amira. He gave police the address of the apartment building where the woman lived in Waco, Texas. It was in the Bordeaux Apartments. Anthony said
that she worked in the healthcare industry. Police were never able to find a woman who lived at that address who matched that description, and there was no sign of Ameera there. We know police give Anthony a lie detector test, but we don't know the results of it. We also know police do a cadaver search of Anthony's last known residence in Hubbard, Texas, but there's no sign of Amira there. Eventually, Anthony will be released from
prison, yet he doesn't go pick up Amira. He doesn't give any more information on her whereabouts. So in 2019, Tiara moved to Houston, Texas, to be closer to the investigation and try to uncover her own details. She says, quote, Tiara has said the police have been unhelpful. Quote, The Attorney General's office initially helped, but they came to a dead end and the case came to a halt until they get more information. They're supposed to be investigating now, but I don't know much about
it. Someone has been trying to leave clues or breadcrumbs that Ameera could still be alive. There are a lot of games being played and many people are involved in the case. In September of 2022, Ameera has been missing for six years. And her mother believes that her daughter is no longer with us. But she still wants answers. Quote, God has given me peace. I had to get sober to get it, but he's given me peace and I know
my daughter is with him. In June of 2023, FBI emergency response team head to Hubbard, Texas to test some new technology and to see if they can get any evidence in Amira's case. It's unclear what exactly the new technology is and if they're able to get any evidence, but there's no update. That's the last piece of information that I could
find on Amira's case. So if you know anything about the disappearance of Ameera Deadrick or her whereabouts today, or if you know anything about a woman named Linda who may also go by Tootie, who lived in the Waco, Texas area, please call the Houston Police at 713 -884 -3131 or the Waco Police at 254 -750 -7500. So that is the missing person case of Ameera Deadrick. You know, with this case, I've gotten to see the
pictures of Ameera already and, um... You know, just instantly she reminded me of our nieces, the smile and her description of just what her, you know, blooming personality was like. And I know I say this often with cases, but I can't stress it enough. So I think it bears repeating. I'm so glad that you brought this case to us. Even with the timeline being something different from the way you have put together timelines before, you know, each person is special and
unique and different. So what happened, you know, surrounding any of these cases is worthy of covering. So I'm really grateful to know Amira's name. Yeah, this is a case that I instantly felt needed to come to cold and missing and needed to get out to our listeners because it's not one that I was familiar with, but it's a case where we really need more information and we need to just get Amira's picture out there and get it circulating
and getting people talking about her. 2016 was not that long ago and it's fresh enough that I think a lot of people However many people had to do with this young girl going missing have answers. And that I feel almost sure of. Yeah, it feels like there is so much more information out there. People who might have seen her might have seen her since she has officially gone missing. So, yeah, there's more information out there.
And I'm just hoping that. Bringing her case here, getting it to our listeners, getting other folks talking about it kind of gets that information to generate and for it to help bring Ameera back home. Yeah, just moving right into what we can speak of on this timeline is the person we're getting most of the information from, which is Tiara, her mother. Because she has stayed so diligent in looking for her daughter, she has
given us specific time markers of things. And this woman, what she has done, what she is going through to find her daughter, I feel panicked thinking about this case because I so badly want those answers for her. And I really hope that... our listeners, you know, again, like I've said before, do their thing and share this case because this woman is working so incredibly hard to find
Ameera and with no help. And I know we'll go back and forth and discuss that more, but the obstacles that she has been up against is, it's insurmountable. Yeah. Amira's mother has been very diligent and has really been the reason that I was able to get any information in this case is because of her mother giving interviews and keeping it in the media. I will say that throughout the reporting and everything, there is some contradicting times and things like that. So I tried to get the timeline
just as close. to what I think is accurate as possible. Sometimes years shift or, you know, a spring versus fall, but I try to just get it consistently what's been said over and over again. I also think that, you know, having your personal information out there, like it being included
in this timeline necessarily. So, and I'm talking about The fact that she was in an abusive relationship with Amira's father, you know, for that to be public knowledge and for it to be part of the timeline here, I would imagine is extremely difficult. And I don't know, I just really stand by this woman and want justice for her and answers. And for somebody... To help her, like, for the love of God, please help her. If there are resources out there that could be or should be helping
her, why are you not doing it? Yeah, I think that gets into the heart of the whole case here is that what's going on? Who is working this case and who is looking for Amira? We know the FBI. has been involved to some extent. But it boggles my mind that, you know, the adults that she was left with who were supposed to be taking care of her don't have answers for where she is today. Like, that is crazy to me. That boggles my mind that we don't have answers from the people
who were supposed to be taking care of her. And from the sounds of it, when Tiara went looking for answers via calling people, messaging people, texting people, to receive dead ends, to receive voicemails, to receive phones disconnected, shut off, those are all adults making those decisions to to essentially dead -end her at every step, every turn. So there are a lot of people involved in this case. At least that's what it seems like to me, based on the timeline you've provided
and the information that we have. If she was calling multiple people who don't want to be involved, why don't you want to be involved?
I'm really curious to know the answers. to that question because I don't understand if a child is missing why is it not all hands on deck all everyone on board looking for her her other her other loved ones or people that know of her connected to her connected to her father connected to Tiara and I know I feel like I'm getting a little worked up but I don't know this case is worth being worked up over absolutely and Yeah, there were a lot of people in Texas who in the fall of 2016
claimed that they saw Ameera around her birthday. But it does not appear that photos or video have come forward in that because the FBI say that the last known appearance of Amerra is on that. Facebook video of her at Chuck E. Cheese. So that's kind of the last visual sighting that the FBI is saying happened. So if people do have pictures of her at a birthday party, you know, at a summer something, at a fall hangout, at a back to school, bring those pictures forward.
Let us get more of the timeline in place and narrow down when Ameera truly went missing. Amira were communicating after the Chuck E. Cheese video. I'm curious to know if they were, you know, video chatting, if it was strictly text messages, if it was phone calls. Because to me, that changes things. Because it would mean that that video isn't the last, you know, like CCTV we have of her. So the Chuck E. Cheese video, the FBI says that was taken April 1st, 2016.
Now, this is an area where I did find some conflicting reports, but this is overwhelmingly what was said, is that after the Chuck E. Cheese video, April 1st, 2016, Ameera and her mother were still communicating. I don't know the specifics of if that was text messages, phone calls, video. That I don't know. But abruptly in the summer of 2016, it seems that all communication stops. And that's when Tiara couldn't get a hold of anybody. That's when that blockade starts coming.
And then we know in the fall, her father, Anthony, goes to prison on unrelated charges. So from April of 2016 through... The fall where it's critical that we narrow down that timeline, but we just don't know when exactly she goes missing. My follow -up question to Amira's father, Anthony, going to prison is why wasn't Amira's mother, Tiara, contacted? I guess I'm kind of answering my own question there because no one has been helpful up to this point. So it makes sense that
no one would have reached out. And, you know, outside of maybe people who knew Ameera directly, but it doesn't appear that Ameera was ever enrolled in school. So, you know, there was no school system keeping an eye on her or. you know, would count for her going missing. And it doesn't appear that she ever went to a doctor either. So again, just like another place where it's nobody's looking for her or expecting her or checking up on her. So it was already a very limited pool of people
who had eyes on Amira. Yeah, my, because there was essentially no paper trail of her, of... Any sort of paperwork, like at a doctor's visit, where it records a moment in time of where you were existing. My questions are for the adults that were maybe around her, which is Anthony's girlfriend. Where was the girlfriend? And does she have any answers? Has she been questioned? Does anyone know who she is? This supposed Linda slash Tootie, that is a big red flag to me. It
sounds to me like a made -up person. And his story about handing her over in a convenience store, I just... The following... After writing... As fast as I could these questions down, the following thing I wrote was, this story is filled with lies and holes. And I mean more coming from Anthony than anything. This guy owes a lot of answers. I want answers. That's how I feel with this case. It does not make sense to me why these
questions are not being answered. So police were never able to track down this Linda or Tootie woman. And Anthony gave an address in Waco, Texas, where this woman was supposed to live and she didn't live there. So police are asking if anybody knows anyone that, you know, whose name is Linda, but maybe goes by the name Tootie, would work in the health care industry and maybe spent time in Waco, Texas. Please. call police and let them know who this woman is because this supposedly
is who Ameera was handed off to. And there's no other details of did they just meet in a convenience store? Had they known each other for some time? Was there any trust there? Was there a phone? Like there's so many questions about why you would hand off your daughter to another person instead of having her go to her mother or another family member. Just a woman in a convenience store. I'm not buying it. But if anybody knows
this woman, please come forward. Well, I really don't like talking about this part of the timeline. I do think it's important to speak about it again. You know, I felt sick to my stomach knowing that that child was maybe wearing a bell in the company of adults that were supposed to be taking care of her. was maybe needing to steal food to care for herself. That was deeply disturbing and upsetting to hear. So if there were adults around who were witnessing that, now is the time to come forward.
Yeah, that information came from Tiara, and it's information that she uncovered by herself of going in and... asking questions and trying to see what happened to her daughter. And yeah, it's heartbreaking and despicable to think about
this little girl living in that situation. I do think that something very hopeful to come from what we've learned from this story so far is that tiara has reached sobriety um you know or did i i really hope for her that it's continued sobriety because hell yeah that's incredible and to do something like that while this is happening in your life is um for some people you know next to impossible and she's doing it and that's that's really incredible and will only make her stronger
in finding justice for her for her child for Ameera because it's because it is time it has been time yeah this is a case where I really hope we get to see Ameera come home healthy and happy you know if Linda is a real person I hope she took Ameera and treated her beautifully and Ameera is growing up and Just maybe starting to remember and figure out, you know, that's my deepest hope in this case. We know, you know, her mother feels that Ameera is no longer with
us. And we know the FBI has searched for cadavers and have taken technology out to last known residences to see if they can find any evidence of Amira. But we don't truly know the results or if anything has been found. It seems like. There's been very little evidence of Ameera outside of her mother and photographs. There's very little evidence of her after that. Well, I think you choosing to cover this case this week adds to, maybe not evidence, but to the timeline, to coverage, to...
the exposure of her name and this case. And again, what Tiara is doing for her, what she's been doing. I'm just so glad that you brought it to us because I think that this case can move forward with more eyes on it and more attention on it again. Yeah. Ameera was let down by a lot of adults in her life. And, you know, I just wanted to Bring her here and now she's going to be exposed to so many people who are going to be thinking about her and hoping the best for her and looking
for her. But again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Ameera Diedrich in the fall of 2016 or her whereabouts today, or if you know a woman who goes by the name Linda or Tootie who might have spent time in Waco, Texas and works in the healthcare industry. please call the Houston Police at 713 -884 -3131 or the Waco Police at 254 -750 -7500. We will have some photos of Ameera on our Instagram and as well as an age progression to her teenage years. So what she...
would look like today. So please go check that out. Please share it in your circles. Get her name out there. Get her picture out there. You can find us at Cold and Missing. We'll pop right up. And, you know, if we ever need to take a week off like we did last week, we'll always update you on the Instagram. So that way you
can be in the loop with us and stay. with us stay in sync with us we also on our website have full transcripts and all of our old episodes there so if you want to go look at old episodes or if you or someone you love is hard of hearing you can find the official transcripts on our
website www .coldandmissing .com and then if you could take a moment today to rate and review us in whatever player you're listening to us in we're so close to 100 in both apple and spotify which are our two biggest platforms so Race to 100. Let's see who gets there first. But if you could take some time, give us five stars. It means a lot. And it really helps the podcast. And it gets Amira's case out there. It gets all these cases out there. So please rate and review.
We would appreciate it so much. But that is all I have for you this week. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. Thank you so much for sticking with us and coming back. I'm your host, Ali . And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, y 'all.