Household of lacking girl linked to homicide suspect ‘worry for his or her lives’ as they search solutions native information

Tyra Whitaker can brighten up a room with her smile, said her aunt Renee McCaskill.

That light in Whitaker is what McCaskill is clinging to almost three months after her niece’s disappearance as revelations about Whitaker’s boyfriend’s alleged crimes surface.

“Look at her face, her eyes,” McCaskill said. “You can’t help but smile when you look at her. She is a light. Her personality is light and bright.”

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Whitaker often spoke to her family, and when McCaskill and her sisters didn’t hear from Whitaker in January, they knew something was wrong.

They started calling and texting on Facebook, but realized that she hadn’t been active on Facebook for a while.

After Whitaker’s family filed a missing persons report with the Tulsa Police Department, they feared what might have happened.

“We were concerned that she might have been trafficked because it was so unusual for her to be out of touch,” McCaskill said. “This was totally out of the norm, so we were concerned for her safety from the start.”

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Then, almost three months after Tyra first disappeared, her family received news that petrified them.

On April 5, 22-year-old Terryl Brooks was arrested for first-degree murder in connection with two of Tulsa’s most recent murders, which took place just over a week apart.

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There was even evidence to suggest Brooks was killing again, Tulsa Police Lieutenant Brandon Watkins said after the arrest, based on how comfortable he was with killing people he knew.

“(The crimes) were completely unrelated. He knew both victims and had some sort of relationship with both victims,” ​​Watkins said. “I mean, you kill from March 25th to April 3rd, and it’s a little over a week. When you kill two people that quickly, it’s pretty obvious that you have no problem killing people. I very, very seriously doubt he would have stopped.”

It was then that the connection between Brooks and Whitaker was discovered.

When Whitaker went missing, McCaskill said they gave police the name of Whitaker’s boyfriend, “Terryl,” but they didn’t know, or even really knew, his last name.

McCaskill said the couple met before Christmas in October or November 2021.

Whitaker had tried to get Brooks to come to a family Christmas dinner, but it didn’t happen.

“With every young person, when they meet someone new, there’s always this concern about who that person is or what that person is really about, what their intentions are with your loved one,” McCaskill said.

Now that police fear Brooks would have killed again had he not been arrested, McCaskill said their fears about what could have happened to Tyra have reached a whole new level.

“We’re petrified now that we know that this person (Brooks) is suspected of killing two other women since we haven’t heard from Tyra,” McCaskill said. “We pray that she returns to us safe and sound. We fear for her life.”

In the uncertain moments that have emerged from the news of Brooks’ arrest in the alleged murders, McCaskill said she remembers Whitaker for who she is as a person.

“She’s just a typical girl. She loves cute dresses. She loves music and has a beautiful voice,” McCaskill said. “She’s like everyone else’s daughter, mother, granddaughter. She is our Tyra.”

Whitaker’s family understands what news about Brooks could mean for Whitaker’s safety, but they are choosing to stay hopeful and pray.

McCaskill also wants to use Whitaker’s situation to spread a missing persons awareness message.

“Any missing persons should be taken very seriously from the start,” she said. “Every missing person counts, and it counts immediately.”

jacob.factor@tulsaworld.com

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