The Murder of Terrell Sims
Have you ever seen those famous couples, or want to be famous couples. You know the ones doing the TikTok trends, or doing dances together, or those bullshit pranks. And I mean I get it some YouTube channels have thousands of views of people watching and fangirling a relationship. Or at least what they think is a relationship. It pushes us pressure on wanting to get in one of your own you start to imagine that this is what relationships are supposed to be like which they absolutely are not, but I can get into that on my Let Me Humble You blog. The thing is when these relationships break up people are in shock, because of the persona that has been put on the Internet. The façade that has been shared with the audience, and even worse when some thing much more sinister happens it’s like we never saw it coming.
This is the story of Terrell Sims.
“Twist it, pop it, bop it, pull it” that is the first sound you hear on @nychicc48’s Tik Tok account. Taylor Shanay Wardlaw stands in a black T shirt glasses and a black bonnet. She has round cheeks, and she's smiling as she grabs onto her boyfriend Terrell Sim’s head playfully. He is smiling too. His locks flow in the front of his eyes, his beard grown out, a white undershirt, and a gold chain bumping against his chest. The two made about 5 videos, honestly with the nature of this case I could only stomach watching two. All seem to be made in the same day. All of them with the same theme “a couple goofing off and having fun.” It looks like they're in Terrell’s room. The walls are beige and there's a workout equipment hanging off of the door hinge.
Taylor Shanay Wardlaw looks young. It's probably the braces. Or maybe it's her smile which appears innocent. Each video she looks longingly at her boyfriend, it's one of those videos that make you feel like the two only can acknowledge that they exist on earth. Love. but as we know a clip is only a snapshot in time, and images can fool you. Taylor is not a lovesick 16 year old, in fact she is 29 years old. She is older than her boyfriend Terrell, who was 26.
The couple resides in Columbia, South Carolina. It's home to the South Carolina Statehouse, Riverbank zoo, a garden and a huge park with animal enclosures. There's also an inner city, it's both a place to visit and a place to avoid. It's like tip of the iceberg of the South, with a 50% makeup of white people, black people at about 40% and the rest a mix of Hispanic, Asian, and multi-race.
Terrell went to Dereh High School. On all accounts it's a pretty good school, they've got strong school spirit. Terrell would have graduated around 2012. Since school it looks like he worked a couple jobs nothing specific. He was also an artist. A rapper, going by the nickname Pressure Strong, his song “Real Nigga Law” is still on Youtube. He had a warm smile and enjoyed gold jewelry. Including grills, a gold watch, and a chain to match. Most of the comments on his Facebook page were from women, but a lot of them seemed like friends or family supporting him. On September 8th 2021 he posted a throwback photo, from before his locks and at 17 weeks ago you can see a response with a cross finger emoji, a sparkle emoji, and an engagement ring emoji posted by Taylor Shanay.
Taylor a couple years older was a mom. Her daughter is about three. Her last set of photos seemed to be around Halloween. Which is what makes this case so incredible because it just happened. October was a few months. Which means whatever happened with Terrell and Taylor didn't really seem that planned. In November she posted a photo with a caption along the lines of ‘you're on my page and I'm the girl that he loves.’
The couple had seemed to be together for some time. Terell had three other children, of his own. And Taylor had her first child with Terell. On all accounts the couple seemed happy. Terrell’s sister Marcella Jones, recalls the two had been together for a while, and that things seemed to be going pretty well. Their last TikTok posts were December 13th 2021.
In late December Terrell went missing. It hadn't been clear how long he had been gone, but by the 20th he had been officially considered missing by loved ones. When family and friends hadn't heard from him, people began to get concerned. Especially Taylor. She tried calling and texting and hadn't heard from him and was beginning to get worried when he wasn’t at their Ervine Street home. On December 22nd Taylor went to the South Carolina law enforcement division to report that Terell had not been home.
Police immediately began looking. They searched places that Terell frequented, old jobs. Called around. And his family began to spring in action as well. Marcella, Terell’s sister tried to keep it together as best she could, especially for Taylor. Who seemed distraught. Taylor began posting several times on social media even organizing a search party for Terell. It wasn't clear where he'd gone or what he'd done the days leading up to his dissapearence. There weren't any enemies that the family could notice or think of. And Terell had a lot of responsibilities. He had four children that he loved, a rap career that he was really trying to get off the ground. He also had a home, a girlfriend in, a twin sister, and he never showed any signs of depression or anxiety.
As time continued on, the police were running into dead ends. There was no sign of any change in Terrell’s bank account. There wasn't any sign that he left on his own accord, and there was simply no sign of him at all. Not hanging out, there weren't any chances of him maybe visiting a friend out of state, it was like he had just completely disappeared.
Though it didn't seem like police were getting anywhere, Marcella began to become suspicious. Taylor would call her frequently every night during his disappearance she was distraught she would talk about missing him, and not knowing what to do. The tears started to sound like tears of sorrow manifesting into something else, maybe guilt? Marsella recalls ““I started to put together.. After I got the story.. I put it together and I was like yeah, she’s not telling me something,"
As the new year rang in, the family began to lose hope. There was no sign of Terell anywhere. Police did a final multi agency search on January 5th 2022, and that is when they discovered a body. A young man was found just off Nipper Creek by Monticello road. Landfill street is a road that drives through state road South 40. It intercepts with Nipper Creek. A great place, for a car to run down and be pulled over. Or someone to run off to. Also a decent place to get rid of a body.
An autopsy discovered that Terrell had not drowned, but had been shot multiple times. Police have not given much information, about the state of Terrell’s body. And where he had been shot, other than the fact that he had been shot over, and over, and over again.
When the news got to Marcella, her stomach sank. Her heart broke instantly at the fact that her brother had been murdered, and the next question is by who.
This case took a major turn on Januarya 8th. I’ve got to say that this story is still unfolding, so I can only report what I know so far, not exactly how the investigation came to be.
On January 8th it was reported that Taylor Shanay had been arrested by the Columbia police and charged with murder and possession of a firearm during a violent crime. Investigators alluded to the fact that Terrell had been shot multiple times, but there was nothing else to follow. They didn't indicate how they knew, they didn't indicate what they found. However Marcella was able to give a few thoughts that alluded to this surprise, just not being so surprising. She explained that the more Taylor told her story the more it felt like something wasn't right.
Terrell went missing on the 20th but hadn't been reported till the 22nd. The dates that Taylor shared just didn't make sense. Also her mourning of him being missing seemed less like concern and more like he was gone for good. Taylor would text Marcella and say how much she missed Terell. But he'd only been gone for a couple of weeks. And though everybody grieves differently it seemed more permanent. Taylor’s story kept changing and the details surrounding Terrell’s disappearance just didn’t make sense.
Eventually it started to feel like Taylor was putting on a show. Taylor had organized a search for her boyfriend in the same area where police discovered the body on Wednesday near Creek off Monticello Rd. The question is, if the search was there how did they miss the body, and police a week later were able to find it. Taylor would call Marcella every day crying, but something about those tearful calls seemed more like fishing. Fishing for how much Taylor would be believed and how much Marcella knew.
Marcella recalls that it felt like Taylor thought that Marcella believed everything she said, so she just kept confiding in her little by Little.. the confiding manifested in letting things slip up.
Taylor has been booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on charges of murder and possession of a firearm during a violent crime. No bond information is available.
Before the question being why, we first have to ask how. Did Taylor lure Terell out there? She must have also had to drag Terrell’s body after shooting him. As of January 18th there was a break in the case. 30 year old Eddie brown was charged with accessory after the fact of murder in connection in the shooting death of Terrell Sims. It isn’t clear how Taylor and Eddie know each other. Eddie doesn't have much of a media presence, and the police have been tight lipped on the connection. However one could assume that Eddie helped Taylor dispose of the body. And either Taylor ended up giving Eddie up, or DNA evidence brought him to the forefront.
In the meantime of course as eerie as it is, when a person dies their social media continues on. And in that case you can see pictures and videos of Taylor, and Terrell. Their Facebook, their Tick Tok, if you dug deep enough you could find their Instagrams. Frozen in time, this happy couple that ended in the demise of someone very innocent. We cannot forget that Terrell Simmons was only 26 years old. He was positive, his siblings recounted how he always tried to keep a smile on his face even during tough times. At first the money raised all four of his children, that are left didn't even reach 300, but has since gone over 3000. But honestly that only leaves each child with about $900 left for them sounds of their father. There is a young girl who lost both her parents essentially. Taylor has not gone to trial and still there has not been a motive or reasoning as to what happened to her and why she could have murdered Terrell. There are a couple rumors that have gone around, reasonings and allegations of abuse and jealousy. But I'm not going to get into that until I really have a concrete answer, I'm sure this will make the news again as the trial begins. Terrell’s family say that they have forgiven Taylor. They more so are at peace knowing what happened to Terell, and now they are gearing up for the next portion of this, making sure that Terell's children are taken care of, and that the case continues and Taylor is in jail where she cannot hurt anyone else. This story is still fairly new, it's the end of February beginning of March, the murder happened about two to three months ago. So we still wait for more new to come out about what happened, and when it happened.
For now let this be a lesson to you. Things are not always what they seem. And people focus more on perception, than reality.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=110362141385314&set=ecnf.100072345842051
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=121083380336301&set=ecnf.100073039188659
https://wpde.com/news/local/woman-arrested-for-murder-after-reporting-boyfriend-missing
https://www.abccolumbia.com/2022/01/06/police-arrest-woman-for-murder-of-man-she-reported-missing/
https://businessguideafrica.com/2022/01/09/terrell-sims-killer-taylor-shanay-wardlaw/
