Justice For Tazia

We thought it was finally over the day Tazias body was pulled from the river, but with her death we realized there is 3 sides to our reality. Our story, their story and the truth. Let me tell you my sister Tazia May’s story so she will NEVER be forgotten!         Out of our pain from losing her, it is our biggest wish that this will stop happening to other families across the United States and the world. She is your sister, daughter, granddaughter, niece, mother, friend. This is a story of how a beautiful, intelligent, and loved girl was failed by the very systems created to prevent this, and how desperation and mental illness destroys lives. If we don't face this crisis together, this won't end here. She was a very loved person who had many friends throughout her life. If you weren’t her friend soon after talking to her you would want to be, especially with how loving of a spirit she had. She would give a stranger anything they needed if she had it to give. She would stand up for those who were bullied or voiceless, including myself when I was bullied in school. She stood up for so many during her life. Tazia had the personality and confidence to do anything in life, if her mind didn’t get in the way. She has touched the lives of so many people during the last 11 years of struggle that she endured. We all knew she needed a ladder to be able to climb out of the hole she, and society, had dug for her. Everyone’s wish was the same as ours, for her to get the long term help she needed as a mentally and physically disabled young woman.         11 years ago, being a single mother, Tazia struggled with barely making ends meet all while fighting mental illnesses. This didn't stop her from being a great mother to her son, she was a natural at being a nurturing parent from the very beginning, feeding him home made organic vegan food. Making sure he had everything he needed and that he was cared for as naturally as possible. She was such a loving and caring person to everyone she met but a series of unfortunate events led her to become homeless and overwhelmed with mental health struggles. She knew her baby son would be in better care living with my mom, until she was able to get help and her life back on track. Before she was 18, she had Oregon Health Plan (Oregon State version of Medicare) and was on medication which helped stabilize her mind. However, entering into adulthood she no longer qualified for OHP and couldn't seek nor afford proper care. This led to desperation, and like a lot of young homeless adults she turned to drugs to self-medicate and cope once she was living on the street. Because of this lifestyle CPS wouldn't allow her to live at my moms with her son, which caused her to be more vulnerable and made the healing process impossible without institutionalized care, which should’ve been her treatment since she was deemed fully disabled and on SSI.          On June 19th 2020, Tazia was released from our local county jail and the last day my family saw her before she went missing for 11 days. She had a series of over 70 arrests over the past ten years due to her mental health, as the only people who respond when 911 is called during a mental health crisis is our small-town law enforcement. This always led to her spending short visits in jail, usually in solitary confinement, instead of receiving an evaluation at the hospital. Our local police agencies do not have the tools or qualifications to know how to handle mental health crisis’s and, frustratingly, she was treated like a normal adult even though her mind functioned like a child to the point that my mom had guardianship over her to ensure she received proper care. Please realize our goal is not to point fingers right now but to clearly state that the entire system is devoid of the long-term care needed for the most desperate individuals in our communities.         The morning Tazia was released she made plans to come home, after breakfast with a friend, to get her newly picked out clothes from Goodwill. She never got to even wear what she picked out and, knowing Tazia, she wouldn't have chosen to wear jail clothes when she had beautiful, clean new clothes to wear at home. She also had money and supplies at home she was supposed to pick up, and she was excited to pick fresh blueberries from the garden. It pains me so much to see the tags on the clothes and how colorful they all are. I knew my sister so badly wanted to come home and to be able to normalize her life, but she needed long term care to stabilize her mind from the brain damage, mental illness and addiction she was suffering from. It was this long-term care which would have allowed her to live at my mom’s home again after treatment, however, she was never given this opportunity.         On Monday the 29th of June 2020 my sisters’ body was pulled out of the South Umpqua River along the bank of Mecilli Park in Roseburg. She was fully clothed with multiple layers, during 90 degree plus days, and a bag around her neck down to her side which was empty. None of the clothes were recognizable, neither was the bag. Other suspicious circumstances and evidence surrounding her death tell us she did not die by accident. Almost immediately after she was retrieved from the river the police department released a statement saying there was no suspicion of foul play even before an autopsy was performed and before talking to our family. Even more frustrating is no matter what evidence or circumstances we’ve told detectives since, we still are told they don’t suspect foul play. This is also after the news media painted her as another homeless death and how it is expected, with the only photo they have shared was her last mug shot, which is totally dehumanizing to who she was as a person and as a human being. Nobody wants to be remembered by a mugshot when there is so much more to the life that the person lived! We have been so frustrated, disgusted, and driven that it has been very difficult to grieve right now, and instead feel as if we have to uncover the facts so that my sister isn’t made into an accidental drowning with zero indication of such, as her body was in the water so long it would have removed evidence per the coroners findings.         We are doing everything we can to seek justice for this tragic ending to a beautiful person who was so desperately crying out for help. We won’t rest until every possible avenue has been explored and every rock has been turned over. We won’t stop until the system set in place, or lack thereof, is fixed and no other daughter, sister, or mother suffers as long as Tazia did without a hand helping to pull her up. We can’t end the fight for Tazia’s justice, we have been fighting for her for too long to give up now. Please help us seek justice for Tazia, the system failed her and we don’t want to fail her in her death.         Currently we are struggling coming up with the expenses we need for a funeral with a burial and a ceremony. We feel this is imperative because if there comes a time in the near future, we might need more evidence from her and if we choose to cremate her, there will be no more evidence for a future investigation. Also, because of Covid-19, we have to wait 12 weeks for the lab work to come back and we must decide what to do in the meantime. We want a second private autopsy performed by a criminal forensic specialist however the cost is over $4,000. We want to hire a private investigator because we know they have the tools, connections, and they specialize in making sure there is NO missing facts or information. My mom also has legal expenses from fighting for my sister and she has no means to pay it off since it was being paid for out of my sisters SSI benefits. We are also looking into a lawyer who specializes in cases like this and can look into the laws regarding my sister and the improper and mismanaged care that she received.          Please use your voice and your strength to stand with us together to help fight for justice for Tazia, in the same way she did for everyone she encountered who ever needed it. If you are able to help or know anyone who understands what we are going through, and is able to help, please let them know by sharing her story. Tazia deserves to not be forgotten and she deserves for us to all fight to make this right! Any money we raise will go directly to these expenses and anything left over will go to help start a movement to spread awareness and directly effect changes that are so desperately needed. We also will start a fund to help her son get through these difficult times ahead without his mom in his life. Thank you for caring and sharing Tazias story and for helping my family through the most difficult time in our lives. We all desire life, liberty and justice for all, not life, liberty and justice for some.