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September 23, 2025 • 18 mins

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: In August 2012, 33-year-old Tamala Wells vanished from Detroit without a trace. Her car was found abandoned miles away—but Tamala never came home. With a troubled relationship, alleged cryptic last words, and a devoted mother who refuses to give up, this case has baffled authorities for over a decade. Who saw her last? And, where is she now? Anyone with information is urged to contact the Detroit Police Department at 313-596-5844 or 313-596-5240. You can also call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP, where your identity will remain anonymous, or submit tips online at BlackAndMissingInc.com.

This is the story of Tamala Wells. 

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Episode Transcript

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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 happened in August twenty twelve. A
thirty three year old Detroit mother of two disappeared without

(00:21):
a trace. She was last seen leaving her home on
Appleton Street. She was reportedly headed out to take care
of business. Her white Pontiac Grand Pricks was found abandoned
miles away, but the woman herself was never seen again.
What makes this case even more disturbing is the man

(00:43):
she left behind, the father of her youngest child, who
would later describe her disappearance as one less headache in
his life. This is the story of Tamala well Tamala Wells,

(01:04):
known to friends and family as Nicki, was thirty three
years old in the summer of twenty twelve. She lived
on Appleton Street in Detroit's West Side with her boyfriend
of seventeen years, Ricky Tenant, and their six year old daughter.
Tamala was the oldest of six children. After high school,

(01:25):
she pursued dreams in healthcare, attending nursing school and working
in home healthcare. She was the mother to two children,
her six year old daughter and a nineteen year old
son from a previous relationship. At the time of her disappearance,
she stood five feet four inches tall and weighed about

(01:47):
one hundred and fifty seven pounds. With black hair and
brown eyes, Tamala's hair was styled in tiny braids that
fell below her shoulders at the time she vanished, and
she wore a c fingernails, had a scar under her
chin and a scar on the left side of her forehead.
Her ears were pierced as well, twice on each side.

(02:11):
She was described by her mother, Donna Wells Davis, as
a social butterfly who brought joy to every room she entered.
When she walks into a room, you just know you're
going to have a fun time, she would later say.
But beneath the surface of Tamila's outgoing personality, trouble was

(02:33):
brewing in her relationship with Ricky Tenant. The couple had
been together for nearly two decades, but by twenty twelve
cracks were beginning to show. In her final conversation with
her mother, Tamla revealed she was planning a new life.
She said she was done with the relationship she was in.

(02:55):
Her mother recalled, she said, Mama, is it's just not
safe here anymore. The two women had been planning a
vacation together, a getaway that would never happen. Monday, August sixth,
twenty twelve, it was a typical summer evening in Detroit

(03:17):
when Tamala's life took a devastating turn. According to Ricky
Tenant's account to police, around nine thirty pm, Tamala announced
she was leaving the house. He claimed she said she
was going to take care of business, an odd phrase
for that time of night that would later raise questions.

(03:42):
Tenants said he left shortly after to pick up their daughter,
who was playing with friends down the street. As they
made their way home, he claims he saw Tamala driving
past them in her white Pontiac Grand Pricks with black
bumpers that he would s was the last time he

(04:03):
saw her alive. The next morning, Tuesday, August seventh, twenty twelve,
her mother, Dona Wells Davis, received a phone call that
would change her life forever. On the other end of
the line was her six year old granddaughter calling from Detroit. Grandma,

(04:24):
my mom didn't come home last night, the little girl, said,
Wells Davis, who lived in Florida, immediately since something was wrong.
She asked to speak with Tenant, but he wouldn't come
to the phone. The fact that a six year old
was making this call instead of an adult in the

(04:44):
house set off alarm bells. I told my husband I
needed to throw some things in a bag and head
down there, she recalled. She traveled straight to her daughter's
home in Detroit, where she confronted Tenant about Tamla's whereabouts.
His stories seem strange from the start. Ricky said she

(05:06):
had left home on August sixth, around nine thirty pm.
He said she was going to take care of business.
Wells Davis recalled, who goes to take care of business
at nine thirty at night unless it's something that's not right?
And my whole thing with that is that's not Tamala

(05:27):
at all. Something else bothered Tenant about Tamla's behavior that night.
He later claimed that during their conversation, Tamala had said
something strange. She said something about she was going to
pay me back. He insisted he had no idea what

(05:47):
she meant by that with no sign of her daughter,
her mother, Donna, went straight to the Detroit Police Department.
What happened next would frustrate her for years to come.
They sat there with their hands on the back of
their head and never even wrote down my name, she

(06:08):
said of her initial meeting with detectives. My family was
raised in the city of Detroit. That's our heritage in
you telling me I can't get help. Despite the lackluster
initial response, police did begin an investigation. They questioned Tenant,

(06:30):
who was cooperating with authorities. As the investigation unfolded, Ricky
Tenant agreed to take a polygraph test. Authorities say he failed. Tenant, however,
claimed the result was due to marijuana use, not because
he was lying. The first major break in the case

(06:52):
came when Tamala Well's car was discovered. Her white Pontiac
Graham Pricks was found abandoned to miles away from her home,
near the intersection of Coventry and East State Fair on
Detroit's east side. This is roughly ten miles from her

(07:12):
Appleton Street residence. Ricky Tenant claimed he learned about the
car's location from a tip the day after she disappeared.
I put the word out that she was missing, and
then a guy called me on the phone and told
me where my car was at in the old neighborhood,

(07:32):
he said. However, Tenant did not immediately call the police.
According to Detroit Police Sergeant Marcella's Ball, Tenant quote took
it upon himself to go inside the vehicle and search
the vehicle, and that's when he called us. This unusual

(07:53):
action was described by investigators as very odd and disturbing
because it could have compromised potential evidence. Tenant reportedly noticed
items missing from the trunk, such as a jack and
a basketball before contacting authorities. Inside the vehicle, authorities found

(08:14):
a few clothing items, but no sign of Tamala herself.
The discovery of the car in a completely different neighborhood
added a perplexing twist to the case, raising more questions
than answers about what could have happened that night. Despite
this lead, Tamala Wells remained missing, and her family continued

(08:41):
to search for answers. As the investigation continued, her mother, Donna,
took matters into her own hands. She organized search parties,
canvas neighborhoods, and checked abandoned buildings throughout Detroit. I called
in my own people to help help me go door
to door search vacant houses, garage, dumps, and the morgue.

(09:06):
She said. The neighborhoods are so run down. The grass
is taller than me, and there is trash and garbage
and abandoned houses. I feel like I am lost when
I am there. Where the hell do I look for
my child in all of this mess? She could be anywhere,

(09:27):
she would later say. Community activists minister Malik Shabbas joined
the search efforts, organizing volunteers and keeping Tamila's case in
the public eye. He said that we don't believe there
are cold cases. We believe there are cases that are solved,

(09:47):
and there are those that are unsolved. As the months
turned to years, Ricky Tenant's behavior became increasingly alarming. In
a shocking twenty fifteen interview with The Huffington Post, he
made statements that sent chills down the spines of those
who heard them. When asked about Tamila's disappearance, Tennant said,

(10:12):
she gives me a headache, referring to his daughter and Tamala.
Tamala used to give me a headache, but I dealt
with it. And I'm looking at it right now as
one headache is better than two headaches. He went further,
expressing hatred for her mom. I hate her with a passion,
he said, yes, I do. She's making me look like

(10:36):
a villain. These comments only deepened suspicions about his involvement
in Tamila's disappearance. His past also raised red flags as well.
He acknowledged having a criminal record, including serving two and
a half years in prison for breaking an entering. Despite this,

(10:59):
he maintained his innocence in Tamla's case. If I did something,
I think I would be in jail by now, he argued,
but his behavior suggested something otherwise. He refused to return
any of Tamla's belongings to her family, keeping all of

(11:19):
her possessions in the house. I still got all of
her stuff in the house, in the closet and in
the basement, he said. Her mother's mad because she wants
to come and take all of her stuff out of
the house, and I told her she can't take nothing.
The situation became even more troubling when it came to

(11:43):
the custody of Tamla and Tenant's daughter, Donna, fought to
gain visitation rights to her granddaughter, but was denied by
the courts. Tenant remained the child's primary guardian, but in
one particularly disturbing incident, the child was temporarily removed from

(12:04):
his home. There was allegations I was locking her up
in a room and essaying her, he said. They took
my daughter away for two months. All of them allegations
was false, just to get her away from me, and
after two months they gave me my daughter back, he continued.

(12:26):
While these allegations were not proven, they added another layer
of concern to an already extremely complicated case. Perhaps the
most chilling detail came when Tenant revealed how he planned
to spend his Christmas in twenty fifteen. He had played
Tamla's birthday December thirtieth, in the Michigan lottery and one

(12:49):
ten thousand dollars. The casual way he spoke about it
was deeply unsettling to anyone who heard it. Over the years,
there have been occasional developments in this case. In twenty
twenty one, Minister Malik Chabbaz received a tip that Tamala

(13:10):
had been spotted at a house on Indiana Street in Detroit. However,
this lead, like so many others, failed to produce concrete results.
In twenty twenty two, a new detective was assigned to
the case, bringing fresh eyes to the investigation. But after

(13:32):
more than a decade, the trail has gone cold and
concrete evidence remains elusive. For Donna Wells Davis, the pain
of not knowing her daughter's fate is unbearable. The holidays
are particularly difficult, she shared. My daughter loved Christmas, It's

(13:55):
her favorite time of the year, and her birthday is
on December thirtieth. We don't know if she's alive or
if she's dead, and that's the hardest thing not knowing. Today,
more than thirteen years after Tamla Wells vanished, her case
remains officially unsolved. She would now be forty six years old.

(14:20):
Her daughter, who is just six when her mother disappeared,
is now a teenager who has grown up not knowing
what happened to the woman who gave her life. Minister
Shabbaz continues to organize search efforts and keep Tamla's name
in the public consciousness. In a twenty twenty three interview,

(14:42):
he said, we've been standing with Donna Wells Davis, her
mother for ten years and six months and will stand
another ten years in six months if we have to.
But it would be nice if someone would just say
something and someone knows. The Detroit Police Department has remained

(15:02):
tight lipped about the investigation, citing the ongoing nature of
the case. Ricky Tenant has never been officially named as
a suspect, despite suspicions surrounding him and his disturbing comments
made about Tamla's disappearance. Tenant has stated that he hasn't

(15:22):
spoken to police much in the aftermath because he believes
that when he goes down to the police stations, they
try to put this stuff on him. Whether the investigation
will ever move forward remains uncertain. Tamla's disappearance represents more
than just one missing person's case, as a stark reminder

(15:46):
of how many women, particularly black women and women of color,
vanished without the media attention or investigative resources necessary to
solve their cases. She had ambition, she was pursuing education
and was planning a future away from a relationship that

(16:07):
had become unsafe. Now a family is left with more
questions than answers, and Tamla's family deserves them. Someone out
there knows what happened on that August evening in twenty twelve,
whether it's the person who saw her last, someone who

(16:29):
knows her whereabouts, or anyone with information about the abandoned car.
If you do have information about this case, you're urged
to contact the Detroit Police Department. You can also call
crime stoppers, where your identity can remain anonymous. Tips can

(16:49):
also be submitted online at black and Missing ink dot com.
All of their contact information can be found in the description.
According to reports, there is a cash reward of up
to twenty five hundred dollars for information leading to Tamla's whereabouts.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends

(17:11):
of Tamla Wells as they continue their search for answers.
As we close out this episode, remember that sharing Tamla's
story helps to spread awareness and could lead to answers
her family has been seeking for more than a decade.
Don't forget to click the follow button to stay updated

(17:32):
on her case and others like it. Be short to
subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube and follow us
on Instagram and TikTok from our true crime content and
case updates. Also, if you're watching us on YouTube, share
your thoughts on this case and the comments below. Thank
you so much for joining us on another episode Until

(17:56):
next time. Hunting for Answers is a production of the
Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black
Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

(18:19):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Hunter Gilmore

Hunter Gilmore

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