HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Ceiha Taylor, a woman from Plant City, vanished more than four years ago.
The 28-year-old seemed to have disappeared without leaving a trace of where she had gone or why.
Since February of 2020, the investigation hasn’t progressed much since the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office found Taylor’s abandoned car near a set of Plant City railroads tracks.
The vehicle was still running, the car door was open, her purse was left inside and her cell phone was found not too far from the area.
Soon though, the Taylor family tells 10 Tampa Bay there’s a chance the cold case could be cracked, thanks to recent arrests of two men investigators say were the last to see her.
Jason Roberts, Taylor’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance; and his friend, Kevin Ring, were both recently arrested on charges unrelated to her case.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office lists Kevin Ring as in custody, charged with 73 felonies dealing with drugs and firearms. While bond is listed for more than $20,000, most of the felony charges don’t allow Ring to go free. If convicted, Ring could face dozens of years in prison.
“They charged him with every single bullet he had to that gun,” said Hope Taylor, Ceiha’s aunt. “They are trying to leverage as much time as possible against him. I thought that now they have a chance that they can actually press for real information."
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has never publicly pointed a finger at Ring or Roberts. Investigators have only confirmed they were the only two people to physically see Taylor minutes before she went missing.
Ceiha’s mom tried to explain the grief that comes with not knowing what happened to her daughter.
“There's a hole in my heart. Like it's broken. It's a wound that can't be healed. Because we don't know all the unknowns, you know, it’s sitting there all the time,” said Canitha Taylor, Ceiha’s mother.
“I pray every morning when I first wake up because she pops in my head. And she's the last thing that I'm thinking of when I go to bed,” she said.
Roberts has since been released, as he’s facing lesser charges and also qualified for bond.
When 10 Tampa Bay asked the sheriff’s office about Ring and Roberts’ arrests, they wouldn’t elaborate on the missing case.
However, the Taylor family said they’ve made peace with waiting if that means the agency is able to build a solid case.
“They are going to wait until they have absolutely everything. That is correct. Detective Florio told me that they are not taking a half case to the state because they do not want any wiggle room with him, that they want the smoking gun. They want it to where he is going to prison for what they've done to or allegedly done to her,” said Hope Taylor, Cieha's aunt.
We asked Ceiha's mother how'd she feel if the suspects eventually share what happened to her and where she is, and if they would be willing to exchange her whereabouts for the time the alleged suspects are already facing for the unrelated charges.
"Absolutely,” Canitha Taylor said. “Because it brings closure and we don’t have to go through the trial and fear all the hurt and the devastating things that she might have went through. I don’t want to hear all that. I just want to know where her remains are or tell me what you did with her. Yes, I would do that.”
Moves like this have been made in other missing-person cases like Jacob Wetterling, where the suspect eventually admitted to the murder, decades after the fact, and wasn't charged for killing the boy. Instead, the susoect would go to prison for the rest of his life for other charges related to the case.
If you have any information of what happened to Ceiha, call Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and contact Detective Joseph Florida at (813) 247-8200.