‘She’s free now.’ Family, friends mourn new mom, 22, found dead near uptown Charlotte
Ta’Haley Payton was so funny she’d make anybody laugh, best friend Kelanie Davis said Saturday.
As girls in Simpsonville, South Carolina, they’d sneak out at night to ride Davis’ mom’s golf cart, doing laps on a baseball field, Davis recalled with a smile.
“Kelanie, we’re not supposed to do this!” Payton would say, and they’d laugh.
“We just always had so much fun together,” Davis said.
Davis joined 20 of Payton’s friends and family Saturday for an outdoor remembrance ceremony, near where they searched all day for the 22-year-old on Dec. 7. They gathered off Charlottetowne Avenue at the Metropolitan shopping complex, south of Uptown Charlotte.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Payton’s family reported her missing Nov. 20, the day after her birthday. On Wednesday, police said her body had been found Monday in the 1100 block of Baxter Street. That’s across Kenilworth Avenue from where friends and family searched for her. Police released no updates by Saturday night.
What happened to Ta’Haley Payton?
Payton went to Charlotte with her boyfriend to celebrate her birthday, Davis, 20, told The Charlotte Observer. Payton and her boyfriend lived in Spartanburg, and Payton gave birth to a girl six months ago, Davis said.
Payton and her boyfriend “got into an altercation, and she got left here with no phone, no money, no resources,” Davis said.
“We were out here searching for her,” Davis said. “I’ve advocated to all the news, trying to spread her name. We’ve got a lot of hate from the social media, and her family’s been really emotional. They’ve been going through a lot, and I told them, just let me advocate, for my best friend.”
“We know as much as the public knows” about her friend’s death, meaning next to nothing, Davis said. “I just want my best friend to get the justice she deserves and to lay her easy at rest.”
Neighbor sympathized, spread word about missing woman
When Davis knocked on doors of homes near the Metropolitan before police discovered Payton’s body, Stephanie Gardner was among the few to answer, she said.
“Please, just listen,” Davis recalled telling Gardner, who was in her pajamas. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to bombard you like this, but my best friend is missing.”
“I just saw the look in her eyes, and I immediately thought of my best friend,” Gardner, 51, told the Observer at Saturday’s remembrance. “The look in Kelanie’s eyes just got to me.
“I mean, you feel that kind of emotion, and you imagine it was your best friend,” Gardner said. “That’s exactly what I would do for my best friend. I’d go across the country to try to find her. I sent emails and wrote on message boards and got the (nearby Cherry community) people involved.”
They included Barbara Rainey, vice president of the Cherry Community Organization, and board member Doris Dennis. Both attended Saturday’s remembrance.
Dennis said she was headed to a store when she saw a young woman walking around wrapped in a pink blanket. She had to be the woman later reported missing, Dennis said.
“God is still good”
Dennis said she attended the gathering to support Payton’s family.
“And I had my church, my senior minister at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, to pray for the family and keep them strong, because God is still good,” she said. “And I know they’re still praying for her.”
Jailyn Keys, 22, drove from Simpsonville with friends. She and Payton were high school classmates.
“Shock,” Keys said she felt when she learned Payton had been found dead.
“Ta’Haley was very funny, outspoken, very outgoing, and she would light up every room she was ever in,” Keys said. “She was all about her siblings, very family-oriented, and we just want to pay our respects today.”
Davis described Payton as “a very strong, independent woman.”
They were best friends since Payton moved to Simpsonville from Albany, Georgia, Davis said.
Payton “inspired everybody,” Davis said. “She always said to everybody, never give up, and she always told me how pretty I was. Just made sure everybody was confident in themselves. And she knew how pretty she was. She did.”
“We see her,” sister says. “She lives.”
Led by Payton’s sister, 20-year-old Karlotta Payton of Greenville, South Carolina, those gathered walked up a grassy knoll along Charlottetowne Avenue to pray and release yellow, pink and white balloons. They included Ta’Haley Payton’s brothers, Joshua Crawford, 10, and Kaden Crawford, 11.
“She’s free now,” Karlotta Payton told the gathering. “She’s free from the world we’re living in. She’s free from the cruelty. Don’t be sad for her. Be happy that she had peace. Be with the family, pray for the family, as we go on the journey to care for her baby.”
”She’s gone, but she’s not gone from here,” Karlotta Payton said. “We see her. She lives through my little brothers, through me. Through all of us, she’s still here.”
“We release these balloons for peace,” she said. “This is to symbolize to Ta’Haley that she’s set free, and we’re going to be OK, and her baby is going to be OK. We’re going to make it.”
Police ask anyone with information about the case to contact CMPD at 704-432-8477, the Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 704-334-1600, or http://charlottecrimestoppers.com/.
This story was originally published December 15, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "‘She’s free now.’ Family, friends mourn new mom, 22, found dead near uptown Charlotte."