A Mysterious Call: Tyesha Patrice Bell

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: She stepped out into the night and was never seen again. In May 2003, Tyesha Patrice Bell vanished after a mysterious phone call. No struggle. No witnesses. Just silence. For 19 years, her case remained one of Kane County’s longest unsolved mysteries—until a shocking discovery unearthed the truth. Over two decades later,  her family continues to fight for justice and for closure.

This is the story of Tyesha Patrice Bell. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
highlighting a case that haunted Aurora, Illinois for nearly two decades.
A young mother of two vanished without a trace after

(00:22):
a mysterious phone call in the early morning hours, leaving
behind questions that would take nineteen years to answer. Her
disappearance sparked one of the longest cold case investigations in
Caine County history, with detectives following leads across multiple states

(00:42):
and even drilling holes in suspects homes in their desperate
search for answers. This is the story of Taysha Patrese
bell tyas Aisha Patrice Belle was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois,

(01:04):
and was a devoted mother to two young daughters, Tania
and Tiara. Those who knew Taysha described her as headstrong,
someone who loved shopping and dancing, and someone with dreams
and aspirations like any other woman her age, but Taysha's
world revolved around her children. She lived with her sister

(01:26):
in an apartment on the eight hundred block of North
Randall Road and Aurora, working to provide for her daughters.
At the time of her disappearance, she was dating a
man named Prince Cunningham, the father of her almost two
year old daughter. It was a relationship that would ultimately

(01:48):
cost her everything. The early morning hours of May ninth,
two thousand and three started like any other for Taysha.
She was at home in her apartment, settling in for
the night. The television was on, candles were burning in
her bedroom, and her purse and money were sitting where

(02:08):
she'd always left them. Then the phone rang. It was
a call that would change everything. The identity of the
caller and the exact contents of that conversation would remain
a mystery for years. But whatever was said during that
call was compelling enough to make Taysha leave her apartment

(02:32):
in the middle of the night. She stepped outside to
meet someone, someone she trusted enough to leave her home
at that hour. That someone investigators would later determine was
Prince Cunningham. When Taysha didn't return home, her family immediately

(02:54):
knew that something was terribly wrong. This was not like
her Taya Kisha would never abandon her daughters. She'd left
everything behind, her purse, her money, even her id. The
television was still the candles still burning in her room.

(03:15):
All of the signs pointed to someone who expected to
return home rather quickly, but Tayisha Patrice Bell was never
seen alive again. The Aurora Police Department immediately suspected foul play.
The circumstances of her disappearance were too suspicious to ignore.

(03:37):
A missing person's investigation was launched, but leads were scarce
and time was ticking. In the days and weeks following
Taysh's disappearance, the police threw everything they had at the case.
Detectives followed up on numerous leads, conducted aerial searches with

(03:58):
airplanes and the Floyd's search dogs across the region. They
even went so far as to drill holes in the
floor of a suspect's home, desperately searching for any trace
of what happened to Tayisha. Early on in the investigation,
police had questioned a person of interest. They had suspicions,

(04:21):
but not enough evidence to make an arrest. Without a
body or concrete proof of what happened, the investigation stalled.
The months turned into years, and the case grew cold,
but Tayish's family never gave up hope. Tayisha's mother, Lorna Smith,

(04:44):
became the driving force behind keeping her daughter's case in
the public eye. She raised ten thousand dollars for a
reward fund, hoping someone would come forward with information. She
drove around with buyers in the back of her car,
instantly sharing information about her missing daughter. Laurna also took

(05:05):
on the responsibility of raising Tayisha's two daughters as her own.
The girls grew up knowing their mother had vanished, but
they also knew she would never have abandoned them willingly.
For seventeen long years, the Bell family lived with questions

(05:28):
that no one could answer. Tayisha's daughters grew up starting
their own adult lives, all without knowing what really happened
to their mother. Then, in December twenty twenty, everything changed.
According to reports, a surveyor working on a development project

(05:51):
in Montgomery, Illinois, made a grizzly discovery. While examining property
in a wooded area. He found a human skull. When
authorities arrived on the scene, they uncovered additional skeletal remains, clothing,
and personal items buried in a shallow grave. The Caine

(06:14):
County Coroner's Office was called to the scene. Corner Rob
Russell worked with a dentist and a bone specialist to
create a profile of the person from the remains. The
iding process took months, but in March twenty twenty one,
the family finally got the answer they'd been dreading yet

(06:35):
desperately needed. DNA analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to
Taysha Patrese Bell. An autopsy revealed the cause of death,
a gunshot wound to the back of her head. After
eighteen years of not knowing, the Bell family finally understood

(06:57):
that Taysha had been murdered. The discovery of her remains
reignited the investigation. Detectives who had worked the case years
earlier were brought back a new evidence was analyzed with
modern forensic techniques. On June fourteenth, twenty twenty two, nearly

(07:21):
nineteen years after Tayish's disappearance, Aurora police made an arrest
that would finally bring some measure of justice to the
Bell family. Prince L Cunningham, now forty nine years old
and living in Yorkville, Illinois, was arrested and charged with
first degree murder in connection with Tayish's death. The man

(07:44):
who had been the father of her youngest daughter, the
man she had trusted enough to meet on that fateful
night in two thousand and three, was now accused of
being her killer. The US Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fuel
Ugitive Task Force apprehended Cunningham right at his home. After

(08:05):
nearly two decades of freedom, he would finally face justice
for what prosecutors allege he did to Tayisha. When Cunningham
had appeared for his bond, hearing Judge Clint Hall set
his bail at five million dollars. The arrest brought mixed

(08:26):
emotions for the Bell family. There was relief that someone
had finally been charged, but also the harsh reality that
no conviction could bring Tayisha back or restore the nineteen
years they'd lost not knowing what happened to her. The
case of Taisha Patrese Bell represents one of the most

(08:47):
persistent cold case investigations in Kane County history. Today, the
legal proceedings against Prince Cunningham are ongoing. While an arrest
has been made, the case is still working its way
through the court system. The Bell family continues to wait
for final justice, hoping that a conviction will bring the

(09:08):
closure they've sought for nearly two decades. My thoughts and
prayers are with the Bell family as they continue to
seek justice for Tayisha. As we close out this episode,
don't forget to click the follow button to stay updated
on Taysh's case and others like it. Be sure to
subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube and follow us

(09:30):
on Instagram and TikTok from our true crime updates. And
if you are watching us on YouTube, let us know
your thoughts on this case down in the comments. Thank
you so much for joining us on another episode. Until
next time. Hunting for Answers is a production of the

(10:05):
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.