HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- For the past five days, items like a homemade Mother’s Day card are near and dear to Cecila Dye. Her family is coping with immense grief after Tajah Dye’s body was found in a parked car in Richmond last week.
The 23-year-old had been missing for a month prior to the discovery.
“Thank you for always sticking in my corner, right or wrong, and loving me unconditionally,” Tajah’s aunt read from the card made for Cecila last year. “For that, I will never put a soul before you. Love you mom.”
“That’s so true,” Ceclia said through tears and with embraces from her family.
“We’re all heartbroken. We’re all together as a family, and we’re strong. Tajah is a strong individual, and she would want us to stay together and be strong,” she said.
On February 25, Richmond Police said they found Dye’s body on Glenlea Avenue. She had last been seen on January 19, leaving a restaurant on Hull Street in Chesterfield with a man. The Medical Examiner is determining the exact cause of death, officials said.
“For any female that goes on a date, please tell somebody who you’re going with,” Cecila said. “She didn’t do this to herself. She was with people, and those people know.”
The Dye family said they chose to speak out Tuesday because the want to celebrate Tajah’s life and the positive energy she always put out into the world. They ask anyone who wants to join them for a Celebration of Life ceremony Friday at 4 p.m. at Jefferson Park in Church. United Communities Against Crime is helping organize the event.
“She’s a fun and exciting person; she loved everyone, so please come and celebrate her life, joy, her happiness,” Cecila Dye said.
Tajah grew up in Church Hill and then eastern Henrico when she got older. It’s where she developed the positive, fun-loving spirit her family celebrates now.
“She just wanted a fun filled life and wanted to just be able to live it... at her best,” her mother said.
Anyone with information about Dye should contact Henrico Police at 804-501-5000, Richmond Major Crimes Detective J. Crewell at 804-646-5234 or Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
