In 1993, 15-year-old Tara Gladden ran away from her home in Columbia, MD. Her parents knew she had a relationship with an older man, and she was believed to be with him. A month-long search was brought to a close when her body was discovered in a culvert near her home. Her boyfriend, 28-year-old Curtis Jamison, was found guilty of murder; his motive was that her parents had threatened to report him to the police. Jamison received a life sentence without possibility of parole in 1996.
I lived across the street from Tara. She was a few years older and so we didn't socialize much, but we certainly were aware of each other. She went to Wilde Lake High School for her freshman year, but transferred to another school for her sophomore year so I didn't encounter her in high school. Her best friend also lived on our block, and I was friends with that girl's little sister.
I was shocked when Tara was missing, and like everyone else I mourned her when she was found. I had walked past that culvert many times, I had even considered walking through it rather than crossing the busy street overhead. After she was found, though, the woods scared me. More than a decade later, I still can't think of them without thinking of Tara.
These newspaper articles are from the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun. After Jamison was sentenced in 1996, all mention of Tara virtually ceased. Her family moved away, and after a brief vacancy the house was occupied by a family who had recently moved to the area. The last mention I have found of Tara is a May 1997 Baltimore Sun article. I photographed the picture on this page from my freshman yearbook, as I have not found any others online. I don't know what became of her family.
Washington Post articles
Baltimore Sun articles
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