- [Narrator] The New Year brought heartache
to one Oroville, California family.
A young woman was just starting her adult life
when she disappeared.
After a long search,
her family finally knows where Tatiana Dugger ended up,
but police are still left with more questions than answers.
What is up you EWU Crew?
Today, we will be looking for clues
in the events that led to the end of a missing person's case
involving the 19 year old California woman.
Her body was recently discovered on March 28th, 2021
and DNA testing confirmed
that the remains belonged to Tatiana Dugger
who disappeared a few months prior.
Limited information has been released
on what may have led to her death
as this case is still ongoing.
Let's get into it.
Tatiana Sunshine Dugger lived up to her name.
According to her friends and family,
the charismatic teen grew up in a tight-knit family
in Oroville, California,
a quiet place in Butte County, North of Sacramento.
A recent graduate of the Las Plumas high school,
She was ready to leave the small town
and in the fall of 2020,
she relocated to Los Angeles moving in with roommates.
Undoubtedly Tatiana's family members were happy
to see her return to Oroville
when she visited home for the Christmas holiday.
New Year's Eve was just around the corner
and one night Tatiana left with a man
the family didn't know.
Together they drove to Oakland.
Unfortunately Tatiana would never return home
to her family again.
According to Tatiana's sister Denene Dugger,
the man may have been someone
associated with Tatiana's new roommates down in Los Angeles,
but little is known about him
other than he goes by the name Marcos.
Tatiana's sister Savannah said about Marcos,
"We never knew him,
we never knew him as a boyfriend or nothing like that.
But you know, we aren't sure,
she could have just not told us that."
The two of them booked a room
at the Westwind lodge in East Oakland
and remained at the hotel for over a week.
It's unclear why they stayed there for so long.
This part of Oakland is not known
for its tourism infrastructure.
On January 7th Tatiana called her mother
and the two of them spoke for about an hour.
Her mother said that nothing about the call
seemed out of the ordinary and everything seemed fine.
As a daughter, sister and aunt,
Tatiana was in daily contact with her family,
talking to them through phone calls
or on one of her many social media accounts.
On January 9th, none of her family had heard from her
and she hadn't been active on social media.
Her uncharacteristic lack of communication
instantly drew concern.
In an interview, Tatiana's sister Deneen,
stated that on the night of January 8th,
Tatiana and Marcos had attended a party.
According to Deneen,
Marco has apparently had left her at the party by herself
and to Tatiana would never make it back
to the hotel that night,
supposedly Marco's returned to the party to get her
but Tatiana was already gone.
The last contact made from Tatiana's cell phone
occurred at approximately 3:00 AM
when she sent an unassuming Snapchat to Deneen.
That final cell phone activity pinged to a rundown park
that wasn't anywhere near the hotel she was staying in.
After not being able to reach Tatiana
throughout the remainder of the next day,
Deneen filed a missing persons report
with the Oakland Police Department.
The police conducted a wellness check on the hotel room
that Tatiana was staying in.
They discovered no sign of foul play
or potential kidnapping.
All her belongings were still in the room
and her car remained locked in the parking lot
but Tatiana's cell phone went straight to voicemail.
Tatiana's family led the charge
in the search for the missing 19 year old.
They organized gatherings and sold face masks and cookies
to raise money for a reward fund
offered for information on her disappearance.
A GoFundMe page went on to raise enough money
to pay for a private detective
to launch their own investigation into the case.
Online, many people speculated
that she could have fallen victim to human trafficking.
In the United States, California leads
with the highest number of human trafficking cases,
Oakland being a hotbed for such abductions.
Both with no tips and even less evidence to go off of,
it couldn't be confirmed
if this was the case for Tatiana's initial disappearance.
For weeks, the family was left desperately wandering
without any answers.
A cousin remarking, "Just not knowing where she's at,
if she's okay is the hardest part.
If she's cold, if she's lonely, if she's still alive,
we don't know, we have no answers.
I just want her to know that we're never going to give up.
We're never going to give up looking for her."
However, on March 28th,
the search would come to a tragic end
when a hiker reported finding a body in the woods
just off the of US Route 97 in Siskiyou County,
eight miles Northeast of the City of Weed.
After recovering the remains,
medical examiners administered a rapid DNA test
which confirmed that the body is in fact, Tatiana Dugger.
The Siskiyou County sheriff released a statement
saying that the remains appeared to have been there
for an extended period of time.
How Tatiana ended up over 250 miles away
from where she was last seen is a mystery.
Authorities haven't commented
on whether or not anyone has been arrested
for Tatiana's death or disappearance
as the investigation is ongoing.
Sadly, Tatiana's GoFundMe page
went from providing resources for her recovery
to allocating funds for her untimely funeral.
Her sister posted on social media,
"Our hearts will forever be broken by this news.
Please continue to keep our family in your prayers."
Somewhere out there, someone knows something
about who is responsible for the disappearance and death
of this young woman.
As her family had the sunshine eclipsed from their lives,
justice still needs to be served for Tatiana.
Have you heard anything about Tatiana or this case?
Authorities ask that if you have any information
regarding the death or disappearance
of Tatiana Sunshine Dugger,
please contact Butte County Detectives at (530) 538-7671
or the Siskiyou County Authorities at (530) 841-2900.