HOUSTON, Texas – Community activist Quanell X is asking for the public’s help in the search for a missing woman who was last seen two weeks ago.
Shawtyeria Waites was last seen on July 25 at approximately 8 a.m. outside an apartment complex located in the 8900 block of Chimney Rock Road. She was wearing a pink dress and pink sandals. Waites was celebrating her birthday with two other women.
The family, joined by Quanell X, held a press conference Sunday to discuss Waites’ disappearance.
Quanell X said the woman met a man at a club and that the man invited them to the apartment complex in southwest Houston.
Friends told Waites’ family that they dropped Waites off at the apartment complex before going to a nearby store to buy makeup. When they returned to the complex, they could not find Waites.
Quanell X said he believes Waites was met with foul play and that the man they met at the club never had any friendly intentions.
“This is not to disparage anyone, but the young girls had been dancing at a nightclub, and they thought that they might want to come here and make a few extra dollars. It was a trick and a setup. The came and only one went in,” Quanell X said.
The friends called Waites’ cell phone multiple times. At some point, the calls began going directly to voicemail.
Quanell X said the apartment Waites believed to have visited was vacant and no one lived there.
The community activist is calling on the mayor and HPD police chief to make the case a top priority.
Waites is 5-foot-9-inches and weighs about 130 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes.
Originally from New Mexico, Waites relocated to Houston to attend school at Prairie View A&M University. Waites’ family traveled from New Mexico to Houston to search for her.
Anyone with information on Waites’ whereabouts is urged to call Houston Police Patrol at (713) 884-3131 or the Houston Police Department Missing Persons Division at (832) 394-1840.
Here is the full press conference held by Waites’ family and Quanell X: