SACRAMENTO — Chandra Taylor was last seen at the Arco gas station on Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, a North Sacramento intersection well-known for sex workers.
One of Taylor’s friends told detectives the 29-year-old was supposed to meet a man there to hang out in a charcoal grey cargo van.
That was May 7 of last year. Since then her mother has been tormented by the same thought.
“She got into a car with somebody that she wasn’t supposed to,” said Denise Thompson.
Thompson feared speaking publically about her daughter’s disappearance could put her family in danger. Now she says she refuses to allow that fear stop her from finding her daughter.
“I don’t care how a woman lives or what she’s done,” she told FOX40.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department is investigating Taylor’s missing person’s case. Her detective tells FOX40 he obtained court-ordered search warrants to tap into her Facebook and phone. Since May 7 she hasn’t used either.
He has also used specialized search tools to look for Taylor on Backpage, in case she is being sold for sex online. He says she has not turned up in any advertisements and the sheriff’s department has found no evidence that she is being trafficked.
“She’s never made resolve to what happened to her,” Thompson said.
Thompson says that events from her 29-year-old daughter’s past eventually led her to drugs and prostitution. It’s what her mother believes made her so vulnerable, and what made her perfect prey for a predator.
“I wish I would have hugged her more, but I didn’t,” Thompson said.
She’s speaking now because people keep sending her tips, saying that Taylor may have been murdered by a very dangerous man. Detectives tell her those people have not called them.
“The reality sets in that I might have a dead child, and I don’t know what to do with that,” Thompson said through tears.
