Tilwanda Denise Cheatham – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
According to namus her name is Tiwana
Tiwanda Denise Cheatham
Tilwanda, circa 1989; Age-progression at age 34 (circa 2014)
- Missing Since08/11/1989
- Missing FromAiken, South Carolina
- ClassificationEndangered Missing
- Date of Birth12/04/1980 (38)
- Age8 years old
- Height and Weight4'1, 70 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA white shirt, red flower-print shorts, and white sneakers or a red t-shirt with "Tom" on the back in white letters, white pants or shorts, and sneakers.
- Distinguishing CharacteristicsAfrican-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Some accounts give Tilwanda's name as "Tawana," "Tiwanda," "Tilawna," or "Tiwana." She wore her hair in a ponytail or braids at the time of her disappearance, and she has a dark skin discoloration on her left arm or left leg.
Details of Disappearance
Tilwanda was last seen in her hometown of Aiken, South Carolina on August 11, 1989. She resided with her parents in the Balltown area on Jack Jones Street near Highway 19. Tilwanda was visiting relatives at the time of her disappearance. She became angry when her mother told her she must return to her home.
Tilwanda took spare change from a jar in her mother's kitchen and left her house. She was last seen by two neighbors at approximately 5:30 p.m. at a Quik Stop convenience store a few blocks from home. She has never been seen or heard from again.
Two weeks after Tilwanda disappeared, her grandmother was arrested and charged with obstructing justice in her case. Police stated Tilwanda's grandmother wasn't a suspect in her disappearance, but she had lied to them many times and may have been trying to cover up what happened.
Investigators have looked into the possibility that Tilwanda is living with relatives, but those theories have not produced any leads and have been cast aside. She had a history of running away from her family's residence, but it is not clear what happened to cause her disappearance. She may have been abducted.
Tilwanda was an honor roll student at North Aiken Elementary School in 1989. Her case remains unsolved.
Street view of Jack Jones St Aiken, SC. Looks exetrmly poor. No wonder she wanted she wanted to stay elsewhere.
Google Maps
I feel like it's very confusing where she was last seen. She was visiting relatives but she went home to pick up some money and then her grandmother was arrested 2 weeks later for obstructing justice. LE was investigating she could be alive staying with relatives but didn't find evidence in that? Either she run away from home and was met with foulplay or she never made it out of her home in the first place. Sounds like this was a bad investigation from day 1.
