On Friday, September 5, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office posted a press release to their Facebook page about the identification of human remains that had been found in June of 2025.
“During the morning hours of June 16, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to the 5400 block of Highway 90 West in Vinton in reference to human remains being located in a wooded area off the roadway.”
Those remains have now been identified as Tameika Watley, who went missing in July of 2024.
Dateline covered Tameika’s case in June as part of its Missing in America digital series.
Tameika’s younger sister, Miranda Waltey, told Dateline at the time that she began to grow concerned when Tameika missed several family celebrations and birthdays in the weeks leading up to her 2024 disappearance.
”She never missed holidays. She never missed birthdays,” Miranda said.
Miranda called everyone she thought could have seen or talked to Tameika, looked in places she was known to frequent, and even went door-to-door asking people if they had seen her.
But there was no sign of her sister.
“It’s just like some type of feeling came over my body,” Miranda said.
Miranda eventually decided it was time to reach out to law enforcement. She went to the sheriff’s office and reported Tameika missing on July 23, 2024.
According to Friday’s press release, Tameika’s remains were positively identified on September 5, 2025. “CPSO Forensic Investigation Unit detectives processed the scene and the remains were sent off for identification. Earlier this evening, CPSO detectives received information from the LSU Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Lab that the remains were identified as those of Tameika S. Watley, Lake Charles.”
“This [is] just the first part of closure,” Miranda Watley wrote Dateline in a text message following the identification of her sister’s remains. “I’m waiting for the justice part of it.”
In June, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kayle Vincent told Dateline, “We have found no evidence to indicate that foul play is involved,” in Tameika’s disappearance, “but we continue to follow up on any and all possible leads,” Vincent told Dateline.
According to Friday’s CPSO press release, “This is still an ongoing investigation and anyone with information is asked to call CPSO at 491-3605. Anonymous tips can be submitted through the Closewatch Calcasieu app or by calling Crime Stoppers at 439-2222.”
