Missing
Tanya E. Taras
Taras, approximately 2000; Antone Wilson in 2003
Date and time person was reported missing : 06/06/2000
Missing location (approx) :
Palmyra, Pennsylvania
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
Age at the time of disappearance: 35 years old
Height / Weight : 5'7 - 5'10, 160 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A horizontally striped shirt, pants, and open-toed shoes or sandals.
Medical conditions : Taras is an alcoholic.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Taras has scars on her left arm and knee. Her ears are pierced.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Taras was last seen in Palmyra, Pennsylvania on June 6, 2000. That day was the preliminary hearing for a drunk driving charge she was facing. She waived the hearing and went home to her apartment in the 600 block of west North Avenue, where she lived alone.
She had a lunch date with a friend that day, but never showed up for it. She has never been heard from again. On June 9, her landlord called the police after one of Taras's friends said no one had been able to get in touch with her and the entry door to her apartment had been damAge at the time of disappearance: d; a pane of glass was broken.
Inside the apartment, Taras's answering machine had 28 messAge at the time of disappearance: s from friends and her employer asking about her. Her two pet cats had been left unattended and without food or water. Her dog, a white Lhasa Apso named Roo, was missing. There was blood on a pair of Taras's glasses and on the upholstery and carpeting in the living room and kitchen.
Three days later, her red 1999 Mercury Cougar was found near the 30th Street train station in southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The keys were inside it and the windows were rolled down. There was fabric and padding Missing location (approx) : the passenger seat. Drops of Taras's blood were on the passenger side door and floorboard, and a cadaver dog indicated the presence of human remains.
Prior to her disappearance, Antone Herman Wilson had been Taras's counselor at White Deer Run, a drug and alcohol treatment center. A photo of him is posted with this case summary.
The day before her disappearance, Taras had told her former addiction counselor that Wilson had come to her apartment a day earlier after she called him "to help her with her problems," and that they had had Gender : . She made a similar statement to her brother.
Taras's former counselor reported what she'd said to White Deer Run. As a result, at 10:00 a.m. on the day of Taras's disappearance, Wilson was suspended from his job pending the outcome of a review board. He was later fired; Gender : ual contact between counselors and clients was against both White Deer Run's employment regulations, and the professional code of ethics.
Wilson is known to have made several calls to Taras's home, including one just fifteen minutes after he was informed of his suspension from work. At 11:06 a.m., he bought a rasp and a file from a store in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. At 2:42 p.m., he bought a nail puller from a store in Hershey, Pennsylvania. A receipt for some of these items was later found under the seat of Taras's car when it was located in Pennsylvania.
At 6:28 p.m., Wilson withdrew $100 from an ATM at a bank in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania bank that day. Security footAge at the time of disappearance: from the bank showed him driving Taras's car, and showed the car had an unidentified object in the passenger seat, covered with a stained blanket. A forensic video expert identified Taras's vehicle based on the dents and scrapes on it, and one of Taras's friends identified the blanket in the video as one Taras owned.
In June 2003, Wilson was charged with homicide, retaliation against a victim, theft and evidence tampering in Taras's case. Investigators believe he killed her over her allegations about their Gender : ual contact, in order to silence her.
In April 2004, Wilson took a plea bargain, pleading guilty to third-degree murder and the other related charges, in exchange for a sentence of nineteen to fifty years in prison. The prosecution had been seeking the death penalty against him. He will be in his seventies by the time he is eligible for release.
Taras worked at a nail salon in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the time of her presumed murder. Authorities stated her remains cannot be recovered. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
Lebanon County Detective Bureau
717-228-4403
September 2021 updates and sources
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
The Lebanon Daily News
October 12, 2004. April 20, 2019; .
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
