Demakia Ann Phinizee juggled quite a busy life. At 21, she enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for five years before returning to Tupelo, Mississippi. Upon arriving home from service, Demakia began to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice. To fund her education and support her three children, she started a security guard position at a local alternative school.
To those around her, Demakia was the definition of a renaissance woman. There was nothing she couldn’t do; everything life threw at her was handled with grace and poise. However, those close to her knew about her turbulent home life, particularly her marriage. She told Sgt. Tara Sloan, one of her co-workers, that she was in the process of separating from her husband, Robert “Tre” Phinizee.
In an interview with WREG, Sloan expressed her shock at the situation. “Nobody else had any problems with Demakia,” she began, “Nobody but Robert, all because Demakia was trying to leave him.” Demakia also told her that Robert didn’t take the news well and began to stalk her. Sloan said she knew of “two domestic violence-related incidents” between the couple.
Demakia, prepared to leave her toxic marriage, began dating and found a new boyfriend. While her family was worried about the divorce, they knew Demakia would easily handle the task of being a single mother. Her three children were her entire world. “She loved those kids,” her mother, Charlene Dillard, told the Daily Journal. “She lived for them.”
Because of this, everyone knew something horrible had happened when Demakia failed to pick up her three children one fateful autumn day.
October 12th, 2007, started as a normal day for Demakia. Her children, excited about the upcoming Halloween holiday, had just left for school. Her sister had agreed to watch them after their school day ended; Demakia would pick them up that evening.
With the day to herself, Demakia chose an appropriate outfit for the Autumn weather–a tan shirt with jean capri pants–and hopped into her 2005 red Pontiac Grand Am. One of her co-workers asked for a ride to the Fillmore Center, the school where they both worked. After dropping them off at the school, her co-worker thanked her for the ride. Demakia nodded and drove off into the Mississippi breeze.
That afternoon, Demakia’s children stayed at their Aunt’s house, as planned. However, when Demakia failed to pick them up, her sister began to worry. It was unlike Demakia to be late, and even if she were, she would call ahead of time to let her know. By 6 p.m., her sister decided to take matters into her own hands and drove to Demakia’s apartment complex. When she arrived, Demakia’s car was not in the parking lot but the door to her apartment was unlocked. Panicked, she called the Verona Police Department to report Demakia missing. When police arrived at the house, everything seemed normal until they saw the master bedroom–the sheets were missing.
Additionally, Demakia’s Pontiac was spotted abandoned at a different apartment complex in Tupelo. An inspection of the car found nothing out of the ordinary, and a door-to-door search of the complex yielded no signs of Demakia. However, one resident claimed they had seen the car speed into the parking lot. Once it was parked, an African-American male donning a white t-shirt and jeans raced out of the car and behind the complex. The potential witness’ testimony disturbed everyone because behind the complex was a field and a small storage unit. However, the police were unable to verify the account.
Upon learning of their doomed marriage, police deemed Tre Phinizee, Demakia’s soon-to-be ex-husband, as a person of interest. Not only did his troubled relationship draw suspicion, but he had also moved out of Tupelo with the children the day after Demakia disappeared.
However, Tre agreed to be interviewed by police and denied any involvement in Demakia’s disappearance. When asked about the missing bed sheets, Tre said he removed them because one of the children had wet the bed. He said he last saw Demakia that morning and speculated she had run off with her new boyfriend, who, when questioned, also denied any involvement.
One month after Demakia’s disappearance, Charlene Dillard, Demakia’s mother, began to call the Verona police department on the daily. However, her pain and anguish grew because each day brought no news. “They tell me the same thing every day, [police] don’t have any new information,” Charlene said to the Daily Journal. “No one can tell me anything about where my daughter is, and that’s hard for me to swallow.” Even though the family believed Demakia was the victim of foul play, police did not deem her disapperance as a criminal case.
A change in leadership at the Verona Police Department compromised the investigation causing Demakia’s case to grow cold. Months turned into years and years turned into a decade; the family was forced to adjust to their new normal. Tre remarried and Demakia’s children grew up without their mother.
Then, in February of 2020, 13 years after Demakia’s disappearance, the case was catapulted from its ice-cold status. Tre Phinizee, Demakia’s ex-husband, was charged with attempted murder in a shooting that injured his wife. At the scene, Tre told a WREG reporter that his wife had held the gun, tried to shoot him, but accidentally shot herself. She would later be treated for her injuries at a local hospital. However, investigators found no evidence to support his account.
During the investigation, police made a disturbing find; like Demakia, Tre’s wife was in the process of divorcing him. Authorities began to consider reopening Demakia’s case. While the renewed attention is comforting for Demakia’s family, they couldn’t ignore their frustration. From the beginning, they always thought Tre was responsible for her disappearance.
Sgt. Tara Sloan, Demakia’s old friend, got a horrible sense of deja vu when she learned the news. “Just hearing [Tre’s] voice and saying that they were trying to reconcile, I just knew,” Sloan said to WREG. “That’s the same thing he said with Demakia.” She hopes the case will be reexamined. “It’s been 12 years and [Demakia’s family] need closure,” she said.
Marsenio Nunn, the current chief of the Verona Police Department, reexamined Demakia’s case file after Tre’s arrest. “I will try to run down the officers who originally worked the case and get their input,” Nunn said to the Daily Journal. “We’ll see what evidence there is and present that to the District Attorney’s office and see what they think we can do.”
However, a quick visit to the Verona Police Department’s website shows that Marsenio Nunn is no longer Chief of Police. J.B. Long now holds the title. When asked about the status of Demakia’s case, the Verona police department did not respond.
Demakia’s family holds onto hope that justice for their loved one is right around the corner. However, they can only do what they’ve done for the past 13 years–wait. For now, they remember the busy, determined, and ambitious woman that Demakia Phinizee was and hope the person who robbed her of the world is held accountable.
If you have any information about Demakia Ann Phinizee’s disappearance, please contact the Mississippi Department of Public Safety on their website or at 662–563–6400.
