Daughter Of Missing Tulsa Woman Refuses To Let Tragedy Break Apart Family

Lori Fullbright, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- A remarkable young woman is refusing to let tragedy break apart her family.

Tatiana Scott was a senior in high school when her mother disappeared. Now that her mother's vehicle and likely remains have been found in a pond, Tatiana hopes to find answers in this nightmare.

News On 6 interviewed Tatiana in 2006; right after her mother went missing. At the time, she was three months from graduating Booker T Washington and raising her 16-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister.

3/31/2006 Related Story: Search Continues For Tulsa Woman Missing Since Early February

She never believed her mother, Sheila, left of her own free will when she disappeared on Valentine's day in 2006. Despite that tragedy, Tatiana graduated, went to college, got her bachelor's degree and is in her second year of law school -- all while working as a manager of a banking business.

She got her brother through high school. He's a manager of a convenience store and at college studying to be a nurse. Her little sister is now 13, a good student and involved in activities.

"I tried to be the best mom I could," Tatiana said.

She says she had a great support system with her extended family, but there were some very trying times. Despite those, she never thought of quitting.

"No, never wanted to be separated at all, never crossed my mind. I couldn't fathom it actually," she said.

Tatiana says when she didn't know anything about her mother's whereabouts, she wondered about everything. Was she being held captive? Was she alive in another state?

Now, that her mother has likely been found dead, she has a whole new set of questions -- who did it and why? She can't understand the killer letting them suffer, when their mom was so close by all this time.

"Not only did you kill someone and destroy a family, you've let us hurt for six years. I'll never forgive that," she said.

She's says her little sister took this latest news the hardest, hoping instead for a happy ending. But, Tatiana says whatever comes next, they will face it together.

"When you see me, everything I am today and will be is because of her. Her perfections and flaws, everything she is, made me the woman I am today. When you see me, know you are seeing her," Tatiana said, when asked how she would like her mother to be remembered.

The medical examiner must still make a positive identification and rule on a cause of death, but Tatiana doesn't believe her mother committed suicide or ran off the road.

She says finding her mother is not the end of their ordeal, it's just the beginning. Because of this experience, Tatiana hopes to one day become a federal prosecutor.

Related Stories:

10/28/2011: Tulsa Family Hopes For Answers After Gruesome Discovery In Pond
10/28/2011: Remains Found In SUV In Tulsa Pond, Vehicle Traced To Missing Woman
10/26/2011: Tulsa Police Drain Retention Pond In Search For Body Parts
10/25/2011: Dive Team Scours Tulsa Pond After Human Foot Found
10/25/2011: Dog Finds Human Foot In East Tulsa Retention Pond