Mother presses for new updates 10 years after teen daughter’s killing

CHARLOTTE — A mother says for ten years, she’s been asking who murdered her 16-year-old daughter. In 2015, Ta’Nya Lashay Williams was shot, paralyzing her for the last few months of her life.

This week marks ten years since she died, and no one is charged. Her family spoke with Channel 9 Crime Reporter Hunter Sáenz on Wednesday as they went to visit her grave.

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They say they don’t want police to stop searching for the person responsible, and they told Channel 9 that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Cold Case Unit has taken over the case.

They’re hoping that by speaking out, it will move someone to come forward and help solve this case.

“Mommy’s here; always and forever,” said Tashala Campbell, Ta’Nya’s mother. “That’s my precious girl.”

Campbell and her family have come to visit her daughter for the last 10 years at this north Charlotte cemetery.

“It hurts, it really hurts,” Campbell told Sáenz.

Ta’Nya was shot in northeast Charlotte; the bullet hit her neck and confined her to a wheelchair. She was just 16 years old.

She died from her injuries eight months later.

“Gone, but never forgotten,” Campbell said. “Any time you think about her, you can’t help but to smile or even laugh out loud.”

Years ago, a man was arrested in connection with the case, but he walked free after charges were dropped. A decade later, there’s been no justice, just lingering questions for detectives.

“Just trying to get somebody to tell me if they’re moving on it, or if she’s sitting in a folder on a shelf, just no returned calls, no action,” said Libby Williams, the victim’s godmother.

“It’s just like it doesn’t matter anymore; and it definitely matters,” Campbell said.

Ta’Nya’s family knows somebody out there knows something, so they’re pressing on.

“She wanted justice before she left this Earth,” Campbell said.

While Ta’Nya may be resting, her case won’t.

“We will not stop,” Campbell said.

We checked into the number of open cold cases at CMPD. They told Channel 9 that the number fluctuates, but right now it’s around 700.