Woman’s disappearance spotlights the lack of national media attention on missing women of color

When Tamika Huston vanished, a trail of evidence led South Carolina investigators on a yearlong search to find her. Their discoveries would reveal a shocking murder and unexpected killer, but Huston's story would spotlight concerns faced by families of missing women of color and the lack of national media attention given to their cases.

"I was shocked because I will tell you, I think I was very naive to what was going to happen here,” Rebkah Howard, Huston’s aunt who is also a public relations specialist, reflected in a new "20/20" interview about the case. “It was met with deaf ears. No one was really listening to me.”

When the 24-year-old Huston went missing in May 2004, her family was certain her case would garner national media attention. Stories of missing white women, like Lori Hacking or Laci Peterson, dominated the news cycle, but not those of women of color like Huston.

A new “20/20” airing Friday, September 27, on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu, features new interviews with Huston’s loved ones and investigators who worked the case.

Howard remembered the day she reported her niece missing, after realizing neither she nor Huston's mother, Gabby, heard from her. Howard informed Spartanburg Police, who quickly dispatched to Huston's residence.

Police found nothing unusual outside the home. Huston’s car was gone, and officers initially believed Huston had gone on a trip. But a closer look by investigators showed a more disturbing scene.

Huston’s beloved dog, Macy, had given birth to a litter of puppies, most of which had died in the empty home. Macy was found emaciated and struggling to survive. Her water and food bowls were empty. Police noted the dog drank all the water from the toilet, which to them indicated Tamika was missing for a significant amount of time.

Huston’s ex-boyfriend, Terence Moss, who came forward to offer his assistance in the investigation, became the police’s first person of interest.

“You're only scared of the police when you've done something wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Moss told “20/20” Co-Anchor Deborah Roberts. “I told them everything.”

Police eventually cleared Moss of suspicion.

About a week after she was reported missing, Huston’s car was found abandoned at an apartment complex.

“It was a stressful moment… we were kind of stuck for a little while,” Spartanburg Police Maj. Steve Lamb, who oversaw the investigation into Huston’s disappearance, said about the lack of significant forensic evidence collected from the car.

One piece of evidence recovered in her car, however, would unlock a treasure trove of clues: a set of keys – ones that investigators said didn’t match Huston’s car, house or even belong to her. One key had a mysterious engraving, “AA14.” Luckily, one locksmith who worked in the town for decades was able to match the unique engraving.

“It was a code that he recognized that he had created,” Lamb said. “It was his own little coding system, so he knew he had made that key.”

The key belonged to the Freemont School Apartments and police were eventually able to trace that key to an apartment previously occupied by Christopher Hampton.

Huston's family told investigators they weren't familiar with anyone by that name.

Zelda Teamer, Huston's best friend, recalled meeting Hampton one time. She said Huston brought Hampton along during a casual visit to her home in 2004.

"He was kind of standoffish," Teamer told "20/20" about the encounter. "I'm like, 'Where did he come from?' She was like, 'Oh, he's just my friend.'"

This encounter was the last time Teamer saw her friend alive.

Investigators learned Huston only recently started dating Hampton before she went missing. At the time of her disappearance, Hampton was on parole for a bank robbery.

Authorities questioned Hampton in December 2004, when he denied having any knowledge of Huston’s whereabouts or the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.

In January 2005, Spartanburg Police conducted a search of Hampton’s old Freemont School apartment.

Blood stains, doused with cleaning supplies, were found on the bedroom carpet. The blood was tested and came back as a positive match to Huston.

“The investigators found a really big bleach stain, which is Latin for, ‘I'm covering something up,’” Trey Gowdy, the Spartanburg Solicitor at the time, said.

Nearly a year after she disappeared, her case was featured on the crime show “America’s Most Wanted,” largely due to the persistence of Howard and journalist Tiffany D. Cross, then a young AMW producer who was drawn to the case because Tamika looked like her.

“In the early 2000s, there was a lot of missing white women that got outsized attention, and it was very frustrating to be a Black woman working in newsrooms,” Cross told “20/20” about the disparity in missing persons coverage. “It didn’t work that way for the amount of missing Black people.”

The national media attention prompted an anonymous 15-year-old caller to come forward with her account about being in Hampton’s apartment and noticing a suspicious stain on the floor and a dresser blocking a closet door.

Police also received a crucial piece of evidence from Hampton’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child in June 2005. She said that Hampton mailed her his wallet for safekeeping when he was sent back to jail for a parole violation related to an earlier bank robbery conviction. The ex-girlfriend said she found a photo in Hampton’s wallet that had a spot of blood and turned it over to police. Tests revealed the blood matched positively to Huston.

With authorities ready to charge him with murder, Hampton finally revealed to police what he says happened to Huston. He told investigators the two got into a heated argument over money, when he swung and hit her on the head with an iron. He put her body in his closet and closed it shut, barricading it with a bedroom dresser. Hampton would then bury Huston in a shallow grave early the next morning.

In August 2005, Hampton led authorities to Huston's burial site, a wooded area off Tyger River Drive in Duncan, South Carolina.

“It was just me and my dad when we found out,” Huston’s younger sister Antonia told “20/20.” “I just remember him screaming to the top of his lungs, and then that's when I knew my sister was never coming back.”

Hampton pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison and is currently incarcerated at the Tyger River Correctional Institution in South Carolina.

Huston's death, and the lack of national media coverage around her disappearance, helped lead to the creation of the Black and Missing Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to bring awareness to missing persons of color. Howard joined the organization's Board of Directors as a way to continue her advocacy in memory of her niece.

Actor and activist Erika Alexander, best known for her starring role in the 1990’s sitcom “Living Single,” created “Finding Tamika,” an award-winning audio series highlighting the case. She told "20/20" that, because of Huston’s story, “we are looking for Black and Brown girls.”

"I know how much Black girls don't matter,” Alexander said, “and I want to always be a reflection of how much value that they had to me...so of course she mattered to me."

To this day, those who knew and loved Huston say there is a struggle to get stories of women of color noticed.

“After all this, it's been 20 years. To have people still interested in her and kind of use her story as a way to reflect on the larger issue, it means a lot,” Howard said. “I am grateful that people are still interested in Tamika and are drawn to her. She was an incredible young woman.”

Denise Martinez-Ramundo, Joseph Diaz and Brian Mezerski contributed to this report.