'False Alarm': Search continues for missing mom Ariana Taylor after 'lifelike mannequin' found
HAMMOND, Ind. (WLS) -- It's been one week since a Northwest Indiana woman went missing and still no sign of her.
Sunday, family and friends were back out searching for 23-year-old Ariana Taylor.
"She got a 4-year-old son waiting to see her face!" her mother, Queena Taylor, said Friday. "I'm fighting for the little family that I got! This is so irritating! I just want my kid!"
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They are focusing their efforts around an area off I-65 in Gary, where police found Taylor's mangled SUV last Sunday.
"Had to be doing 80-plus mile per hour," Gary Police Commander Jack Hamady said after the car was discovered. "It did not look like that individual used the brakes at all. Went down into a ravine and came to a stop, and had flat tires. Was she being chased? Was she just intoxicated? We're not sure."
Since the car was empty, investigators said can't even be sure Taylor was driving the SUV at the time.
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Taylor's family previously said they believe there is foul play involved.
Earlier Sunday, a Nipsco worker found what they thought was a body near Lake Street in Gary. However, police said it turned to be a "false alarm" and what was discovered was actually a "'lifelike mannequin."
"The body located earlier today, once it was able to be uncovered, was determined to me a life-sized silicone/rubber type female doll," Gary police said.
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Taylor is described as a Black woman, 5 ft. 6 in. tall and 200 lbs. She was last seen wearing a red sweater, ripped blue jeans and gym shoes.
If you have any information about her whereabouts contact Detective Sergeant Mark Salazar at 219-881-1209 or the Gary police crime tip line at 866-CRIME-GP.
