This episode reviews the disappearance of Cieha Taylor. The 28-year-old woman was last seen on February 6, 2020. The detective leading this case and Canitha Taylor, Cieha's mother, will be featured in the episode discussing her daughter's case and her message for the public.
Canitha Taylor, Mom of Ceiha Taylor: The Unknown is a nightmare.
Amanda Granit, Host: 28-YEAR-OLD CIEHA (KI-AH) TAYLOR WAS LAST SEEN FEBRUARY 6, 2020
Detective Florio, HCSO: And that was the last time someone physically saw her.
Canitha Taylor, Mom: As soon as I knew… I was worried.
Amanda Granit, Host: HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY DETECTIVES HAVE SEARCHED THE AREA SHE WAS LAST SEEN, TRIED TO TRACK DOWN ANYONE WHO SAY CEIHA AND SEARCHED FOR SURVEILLANCE VIDEO THAT WOULD GIVE THEM SOME IDEA OF WHERE SHE COULD BE.
Detective Florio, HCSO: Unfortunately hasn’t really helped us.
Amanda Granit, Host: WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT CEIHA TAYLOR’S DISAPPEARANCE IN HOPES THAT YOU CAN HELP US SOLVE THIS “UNFINISHED BUSINESS.”
Canitha Taylor, Mom: She had a passion for life, always had.
Canitha TAYLOR REMEMBERS HER DAUGHTER, CEIHA, AS A LITTEL GIRL WHO LOVED THE OUTDOORS, READING AND MAKEUP.
Canitha Taylor, Mom of Ceiha Taylor: She was bubbly. When she went anywhere or anyone met he, they were captivated by her because of her sweet and loving personality.
Amanda Granit, Host: SHE REMEMBERS CEIHA AS A WOMAN WHO ALWAYS WAS ABLE TO SEE THE BRIGHT SIDE.
Canitha Taylor, Mom of Ceiha Taylor: She would wake up and if she saw me in a bad mood she’d ask me what I am grateful for today. To try and change your way of thinking.
Amanda Granit, Host: AS CEIHA GREW UP HER MOM IS VERY HONEST AS SHE EXPLAINED CEIHA WASN’T PERFECT.
SHE DID EXPERIMENT WITH DRUGS AND ACCORDING TO HER FELL INTO THE WRONG CROWD.
ON FEBRUARY 6, 2020 CEIHA TAYLOR WAS LIVING IN PLANT CITY WITH HER ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN BOYFRIEND AND ONE OF HIS FRIENDS.
Detective Jospeh Florio, HCSO: She left her residence around 4:00 pm that day. And That was the last time someone physically saw her.
Amanda Granit, Host: DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO JOINED THE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE IN 2006. HE WAS PROMOTED TO DETECTIVE IN 2013 AND HAS WORKED WITH HCSO’S CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION SINCE 2014.
Granit: So, it’s safe to say you’ve investigated your fair share of missing person cases?
Florio: Yes
Granit: And why does this one stand out to you?
Florio: Well, of all the ones that I’ve worked prior to this, we’ve had some type of resolution to them. Unfortunately, in this specific case, we have not found Ceiha Taylor.”>
Amanda Granit, Host: AS YOU HEARD, FEBRUARY 6, 2020 WAS THE LAST TIME ANYONE SAW CEIHA TAYLOR.
Amanda Granit, Host: HERE’S WHAT THOSE MOMENTS WERE LIKE.
FLORIO: So we've spoken to the boyfriend and his friend, and actually that friend's parents whose house they were at that day and the parents didn't have much interaction with her at all. Just basically saw her leaving, but from the interaction she had with her boyfriend and with the friend, she was acting not normally as she normally would. They described her as more erratic and possibly going through some type of mental crisis of some sort.
Granit: And that behavior is not only expressed to you and other detectives by those two individuals but also another friend who spoke to her on the phone shortly after she left that residence.
FLORIO: Yes, that's correct. We, in the investigation, we were able to get ahold of Cieha Taylor's cell phone. We've downloaded a phone and we've ended up going out and speaking to the last couple of people she spoke with and going through a timeline of who she would have spoken to. And speaking to a friend of hers that whose house she was staying at in Lakeland, she was actually supposed to go to that friend's house that day, she had also expressed that Cieha was definitely upset or it wasn't normal for her. >
Amanda Granit, Host: CIEHA NEVER MADE IT TO THAT HOME IN LAKELAND, AND IT WOULD STILL BE A FEW DAYS BEFORE AN OFFICIAL MISSING PERSON’S REPORT MADE ITS WAY TO HCSO. BUT EVEN BEFORE THE REPORT, HCSO GETS A CLUE AT CEIHA’S TRAIL THAT NIGHT.
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO: on the sixth, a citizen called in a vehicle that was abandoned on the railroad tracks on Trapnell Road. It's going to be between Jap Tucker road and this foxy packing plant, basically right there in the 900 block of Trapnell Road. The citizens stopped thinking that it was possibly a car broken down, but what was odd about it was the vehicle was actually facing northbound on the railroad tracks and the vehicle was running at the time. There was nobody seen or around the vehicle at the time when the citizen stopped. The Sheriff's office and the Plant City Police Department responded to the scene. And obviously the fact that a vehicle is obstructing railroad tracks, it's an active CSX line, the decision was made by the officer and the deputy to move the vehicle off the tracks. And they secured it on the side of the road.
Amanda Granit, Host: AS WE LOOK BACK AT THIS TIMELINE, DETECTIVE FLORIO SAYS THREE DAYS LATER IS THE NEXT KEY MOMENT.
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO: So on the ninth is when the boyfriend's mother comes to drop some belongings off to the friend's house and notices Cieha Taylor's vehicle parked on the side of the road. The mother informs the boyfriend about it, and he comes up there and says, "Oh, something's wrong. She left the house on Thursday." And they ended up getting in contact with the friend whose house it was in Lakeland. She comes over to the area. The decision was made by the people at the vehicle at the time to drive the vehicle to Dade City where Cieha Taylor's mother lives. They ended up contacting AAA to open the vehicle for them.
Amanda Granit : And once your detectives were able to get ahold of this vehicle, what was significant about what was either left behind or that you were able to take from the car?
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO: Well, for one her cell phone and her purse with all of her personal belongings inside of it were still in the vehicle.
Amanda Granit, Host: FOR MOM, THAT WAS A RED FLAG
Canitha: As soon as I knew the phone and the keys were in the car, I was worried.
Amanda Granit, Host: DETECTIVE FLORIO SAYS THEY SEARCHED CAR FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO: We did a thorough search of the vehicle, evidence processing-wise. I know that we actually had that vehicle on the 10th and continued to process it for several days, going back to it several times to include fingerprint processing, alternate light source processing, different forensic techniques to see if there are any clues left behind.
Amanda Granit, Host: And were there any?
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO: We recovered some fingerprints, but they were all known people to have been in the cars. But I know specifically that we were able to identify Cieha Taylor's fingerprints in the car. Her friend's prints that drove the vehicle to Dade City. That's not uncommon, nor would it raise suspicion because these people obviously had been in the car in the past.
Amanda Granit, Host: THE OFFICIAL MISSING PERSON’S REPORT IS FILED IN FEBRUARY 10TH AND THAT’S WHEN AN AGGRESSIVE INVESTIGATION BEGAN INTO LOOKING FOR CEIHA TAYLOR.
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO:
So the Sheriff's office, once the Criminal Investigations Division was notified of it on the 10th, we conducted a very aggressive investigation into looking for Cieha Taylor. Basically most of the detectives in the homicide section at some point have touched this case, whether it be going out looking for surveillance video, we've knocked on neighbor's doors up and down north, south, east, and west of that location looking for surveillance video. We recovered from local businesses in the area of video that unfortunately hasn't really helped us. That was initially in the investigation. We conducted multiple searches of the area. This is a rural area out in Plant City, so a lot of wooded area, a lot of farmland out there. I know that on the 11th, there was a bloodhound that was taken out to the area with for an article search that showed, unfortunately, it didn't have any results for us. We ended up later on having a couple more searches to include the helicopters and several patrol deputies coming out with us, which led us to on the 20th of February, we actually did a traffic survey in the area where we handed out over 500 flyers. We made up these missing person flyers, basically with some photographs of Cieha Taylor to pass out to every vehicle in the area. The point doing something like that is to Trapnell Road's a well-traveled road in Plant City. Most people would be driving it every day, presumably from work. And when this vehicle was recovered at 7:00 PM around 7:00 PM on the sixth, one would assume that the same people traveling that road might've saw something that day. So it was just to get the word out to people saying, "Hey, what can we do to help you with this investigation?" So there were some leads that came out of that traffic survey. Unfortunately, they haven't really come to any type of conclusion on it, that they pretty much hit a dead end. People have called in multiple tips of possible sightings. Every one of those tips has been run down unfortunately that none of them have been accurate.
Amanda Granit, Host:AND NOW THEY NEED THAT ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION THAT CAN LEAD THEM TO CEIHA, NO MATTER WHERE SHE IS.
DETECTIVE JOSEPH FLORIO, HCSO:
We need, if somebody has information, if there is credible information out there, that's what we would want. What's come into us a lot is, and a lot of the times what people do in these types of cases, they present their theory to us, which could be useful. But in what we do for a living is based on fact. And it's based on what we actually know and what we have in front of us. And right now, I need somebody who has information, whether it's, if something has happened to Cieha Taylor, that is, God forbid she was murdered, or if someone kidnapped her or something like that, someone needs to have the guts to come forward and talk about that with us and understand that we will listen to if you have information about it. If you're scared to come forward, your name doesn't necessarily have to be out there. There's plenty of avenues to go down to not include your name, but ultimately this family needs their daughter found.
Amanda Granit, Host: FOR MOM, HER PLEA IS SIMPLE.
Kadesha Taylor, Mom of Ceiha Taylor: Whatever you know please contact the Sheriff’s department. No matter what small little detail you think is insignificant… no family would ever want to go through this, so yourself in the family position and think if I was the family wouldn’t I want someone to come forward.
Amanda Granit, Host: AND WHILE SHE WAITS FOR ANSWERS — MOM TRIES TO HOLD ON TO THE LESSON HER DAUGHTER TAUGHT HER… TO REMEMBER WHAT SHE IS GRATEFUL FOR.
Canitha Taylor, Mom of Ceiha Taylor: Hope. I have to keep hope.
Amanda Granit, Host: IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THIS CASE OR ANY CASES INVESTIGATED BY THE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, PLEASE CALL HCSO AT 813-247-8200. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA AT HCSO SHERIFF TO FOLLOW ALONG WITH ANY UPDATES ON THIS CASE.