AL AL - Shelia Hughes, 29, Aliceville, 1 Sep 2000

24 Feb 08

It's been more than seven years since Shelia Hughes disappeared.

The night it occurred, Sept. 1, 2000, Shelia Hughes left her home with Renard Simmons, the father of her first child, a son to be delivered the next day.

Simmons told police that he dropped Shelia Hughes off at her home in Aliceville at 3 a.m., but she was never seen again.

Time has done little to alleviate the pain of her family.

"There's still hurt in our hearts because we still don't have any answers," said the Rev. Nellie Woods, Shelia Hughes' cousin.

"We don't know any more today than we did seven years ago."

At 2 p.m. Thursday, the Hughes family held a memorial ceremony for Shelia Hughes, who was 29 at the time of her disappearance, at New Canaan Baptist Church in Aliceville.

She would have been 37 in June.

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<MOD NOTE: Several original links throughout the thread were broken and have been edited to include the current link (when available) and images as of June 22, 2023>

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22 Feb 08

A Pickens County family ended a long search on a sad note today.

At 10 a.m., Aliceville, Ala. resident Debra Hughes filed a petition with Pickens County Probate Judge John Paluzzi to pronounce her sister, Sheila, as dead.

But there is no body to bury.

No one has seen a trace of Sheila Hughes since Sept. 1, 2000.

Sheila Hughes - who according to her sister was 9 months pregnant at the time - and her boyfriend, Renaud Simmon, left their residence at the Windsor Park mobile home community in Aliceville at about 10 p.m., according to Debra Hughes.

Simmon was the last known person to see Sheila Hughes.

and

Local authorities began searching for Sheila Hughes soon after she was reported missing, but every lead has been a dead end.

The search for Sheila has been extremely frustrating up to this point, said Pickens County Sheriff David Abston.

I can't even tell you how many leads we have investigated. We found Sheila's purse in Noxubee County about a month after she went missing, but that is the only thing we have been able to find in eight years, Abston continued.

and

Because nobody was around Sheila Hughes or her boyfriend on the night they disappeared, investigators have little to base their search on.

and

We know where Mr. Simmon is and we questioned him, but we can't confirm if he was actually with Sheila when she disappeared. In fact, we can't even confirm that Sheila was actually pregnant at the time, he added. Without concrete evidence, it has been pretty frustrating.

Cox would not comment on further findings of the search because the investigation remains open.

more at link

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Above Images: Hughes, circa 2000
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: September 1, 2000 from Aliceville, Alabama
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: June 17, 1971
Age: 29 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 150 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Hughes has scars on her left arm and lower lip. Her ears are pierced. Her nickname is Boot.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A gray shirt and stretchy white maternity shorts.
Medical Conditions: Hughes was nine months pregnant with a boy at the time of her September 2000 disappearance. She was due to deliver her baby at any time.

What happened to Sheila and her unborn baby boy?

I just noticed Charley Project and NamUs both have her first name as Shelia. It probably changes the pronunciation, too. I bet Shelia was used to that.

Aliceville woman went missing in 2000; family hasn't given up hope

The night of Sept. 1, Shelia was living with her sister in Aliceville when she was picked up by Renard Simmons, her boyfriend and father of the unborn child. Debra Hughes remembers that before her sister left she said something to her that she still remembers to this day.

Her last words to me were 'If you don't ever see me again, don't worry about me because I have lived my life to the fullest,' Debra Hughes said.

After that, Shelia was never seen again.

Thursday marked 16 years to the day that she disappeared, but Debra Hughes and her family still hold out hope that they will receive answers one day.

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McCool, who was assistant district attorney for Pickens County at the time Shelia disappeared, said the case is cold, but not closed.

I'm not aware of any new evidence that has surfaced in the last few years, but as far as the case goes, Shelia will not be forgotten, McCool said. It won't be closed until she's found and her killer is brought to justice.

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People that knew Shelia said she was very social and full of spontaneity, often planning family trips and reunions.

She was the one that kept the family together, Hughes said. We haven't had a family barbecue since she was missing because she was the one that used to get it together.

She said she still thinks about her sister every day.

I often think about what she would be doing now, Hughes said. I think about what her child would be like and how he would come to visit.

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KateB said:

I just noticed Charley Project and NamUs both have her first name as Shelia. It probably changes the pronunciation, too. I bet Shelia was used to that.

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I have a friend who spells her name Shelia. The pronunciation is the same as Sheila. Strangely enough, she also lives in Alabama.

Shelia has been gone for 17 years. Her son would now be in high school.

Shelia Diane Hughes – The Charley Project
Last updated November 2, 2021; details of disappearance updated.

It is more than clear that her boyfriend killed her or at least had a lot to do with it, poor pregnant woman, she still loved him knowing that he did not want that baby.
rest in peace

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) MP4769

3 exclusions listed on NamUs:
UP8419 Virginia 2001
UP960 Virginia 2004
UP8157 Ohio 2008

Sheila Hughes (details | poster)