Once an investigation was launched, Tamala’s boyfriend, Rickey, reportedly told authorities that she’d been acting suspiciously leading up to her disappearance. Tamala supposedly told Rickey that she needed to go somewhere but didn’t disclose the destination.
Rickey also claimed that Tamala typically went out to grab drinks with her girlfriends one or two times a week. However, he didn’t think she’d leave behind their 6-year-old daughter for such a long period of time.
Police questioned Rickey multiple times, and he took a polygraph test, which he reportedly failed, although he was never charged in connection with Tamala’s case.
Rickey stated that he was not involved in her disappearance and has reportedly maintained custody of their daughter ever since Tamala went missing.
Her car was ultimately discovered abandoned three days after she vanished by Rickey, and some pieces of clothing were found inside.
The vehicle was left on Coventry Road, which was only a couple of blocks away from her home. According to Rickey, a friend of his named Bud had seen the car.
Rickey proceeded to look inside the vehicle afterward and realized some items were missing, including a basketball and a jack from the trunk. At that point, he contacted investigators.
But authorities claimed that Rickey’s search compromised potential evidence that could have been collected.
“He reported the vehicle gone, and then he found it himself, and before calling us,” said Detroit Police Sergeant Marcellus Ball.
“Instead of calling us to come to the scene to investigate, Mr. Tennant took it upon himself to go inside the vehicle and to search the vehicle, and that’s when he called us. And that was very odd and disturbing to me.”
In 2016, Sergeant Ball also stated that “everything” led authorities back to Rickey in “some kind of way.”
