Disappearance Of Shelia Diane Hughes

2021-08-01 16:51:29 Written by Jones Jay

On the Friday evening before Labor Day in 2000, Shelia Diane Hughes left her sister’s home in Aliceville, Alabama, to go on a ride with her on-and-off-again boyfriend. She has never been seen or heard from again.

 

At the time of her missing 29-year-old Shelia was nine months pregnant with her first child; a baby boy that she planned to name after her boyfriend and baby’s father, Renard Simmons. Shelia was due to deliver baby Junior on September 3, 2000.

 

Shelia and Renard had been together on and off for five years. Because of their rocky relationship, Shelia had been staying with her older sister, Debra, in Aliceville, AL. Shelia planned on living with Debra until she adjusted to motherhood and found her place for her and Junior. According to Debra, Renard was not happy about the pregnancy and had wanted Shelia to have an abortion. He was disturbed when she decided to carry the pregnancy to term. However, Shelia told her family that she was happy to begin a “new chapter” of her life.

 

The Disappearance

 

On the night of Friday, September 1, 2000, Debra Hughes was home with Shelia at the Windsor Park mobile home community in Aliceville. Around 10:30 p.m., Renard Simmons arrived to pick up Shelia and go for a ride to talk about their relationship. Shelia left wearing a gray shirt, stretchy white maternity shorts, and white slippers, and was carrying a brown purse. At 1:00 a.m. on September 2, police stopped Renard’s car at a roadblock in the nearby town of Pickensville, ten miles away from where Shelia was living in Aliceville. Police remarked that a black female believe to be Shelia was in the passenger seat during the stop. Depending on which account you believe, this is the last known verified sighting of Shelia Hughes.

 

Renard told law enforcement that after being stopped in Pickensville, he drove back to Debra’s home in Aliceville and dropped Shelia off at 3:00 a.m. However, Debra disputed this and says that Friday is the last time Shelia was ever in her home. Because the upcoming Monday was Labor Day, Debra had work off and was home for the whole holiday weekend. Debra also had a security alarm installed on the front door which would have beeped continually if the front door was opened. There was no indication that the alarm went off at any time that weekend.

 

Debra never heard from her sister after she left her home on Friday night. When her due date came and went with no sign of Shelia and Junior, her family began to panic. There was no record of anyone matching Shelia’s description at any of the hospitals in the region, and Shelia’s family filed a missing person report on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

 

The case stayed stagnant for about a month until some personal items were discovered just west of the Alabama/Mississippi state line. Detectives recovered the brown purse and white house slippers that Shelia was last seen wearing in a remote cotton field in Noxubee county, MS, about 20 miles from where she was last seen in Pickensville. A substantial ground search of the area was instantly conducted, but police were unable to locate Shelia or any other proof.

 

According to Shelia’s family, Renard Simmons was anything but emotional about the situation. Debra has accused him of lying to law enforcement about dropping Shelia off on Saturday morning and doesn’t believe he has been credible or forthcoming with information. Recalling a conversation she had with her sister shortly before her disappearance, Debra said that Shelia told her, “if you don't see me anymore, don't worry about me, know that I've lived my life to the fullest." Although Shelia’s cryptic words remain in her mind, Debra has never thought that her sister intended on disappearing on her own accord.

 

In February 2008, seven and a half years after Shelia’s disappearance, her family filed a request with Pickens County to declare Shelia legally dead. On the afternoon of the hearing, after the probate judge presumed Shelia as deceased, her family held a small memorial ceremony at the New Canaan Baptist Church in her hometown of Aliceville.

 

Theories and Leads

 

There was the assumption that Shelia had left the area on her own to deliver her son without her family’s knowledge. Perhaps she wanted to secretly place the baby up for adoption and didn’t want her family to be disappointed by the decision. It is possible that Shelia simply didn’t want to be a mother, and wanted to remain missing instead of explaining the situation to her family and facing backlash. However, her family is adamant that she never would have left without saying goodbye. Debra told police that Shelia was planning on keeping her unborn son, who had a name picked out already, and that Shelia had already begun obtaining baby items and storing them in her sister’s mobile home. Debra also claimed that Shelia, along with the rest of her family, was excited about the pregnancy, and eager to finally meet Renard Junior. Additionally, the evidence does not suggest Shelia planned on running away, since she left her sister’s house in house slippers and lounge clothes. Both Shelia and the baby’s belongings were still at Debra’s home, and her brown purse was the only item she took with her on the ride. There was no evidence that Shelia ever intended on leaving for an extended period that Friday night.

 

Another story emerged that Shelia had left that September night bound for Texas, and even wrote a letter to an acquaintance back in Alabama. Detectives followed the leads and looked into rumors that Shelia was seen in different parts of the country, and had possibly assumed a new identity. None of these claims have been proven, but police have always doubted foul play in her disappearance.

 

Based on his accounts of the night, Renard Simmons was the last person to see Shelia alive when he dropped her off at home. According to Debra, he was the only person who was not happy about the pregnancy and told detectives she had been unsure whether or not he would be around to support Shelia and Junior. Although he was always the main person of interest in Shelia’s disappearance, the police never had enough proof to arrest him or even publicly name him as a suspect. Renard Simmons died on November 5, 2013, taking any information he may have had about Shelia or his unborn son with him.