BELL COUNTY, Texas — Seventy miles. That’s how far the body of Tiera Strand was found from where she was last seen alive – at the ever-bustling Sixth Street in Downtown Austin.
“I never would’ve thought in a million years that would happen to someone like Tiera,” Tena Roberson, Tiera’s great-aunt, said in disbelief. “She was fun loving. Everybody loved her... I never thought anybody would take her life.”
This month marks the anniversary of when Tiera, a young 25-year-old mother who had dreams of getting her high school diploma and joining the U.S. Navy, went missing on April 16, 2023. Days later on April 21, 2023, she was found dead in the 1300 block of Berger Road in Temple’s northeast.
"I'm really shattered that someone could harm my daughter in that manner," Monica Herron, Tiera's mother, said in disbelief. "Especially when she was on the right path to life and she had a lot of things ahead of her."
Tiera's family still remains hopeful, especially with new surveillance video released by the Bell County Sheriff's Department (watch the video below). It shows Tiera shortly before she disappeared, surrounded by groups of people who may have seen her that night.
"I’m just hoping we are able to find out what happened to my daughter, that’s the most important thing for me," Herron said. “I pray that we find out what happened to her and get some justice for her life."
'She was a loving person ' | Who was Tiera Strand?
When asked to describe Tiera, Sharon Mitchell, Tiera's grandmother, said, "She was a loving person... she loved her family."
“She would give you the biggest hugs and squeezes,” Roberson smiled. “If you were having a bad day, she’d come over and make you all chipper. She’d always tell you how much she loved you.”
Herron said Tiera loved being a mother and that the two "had a strong bond." She said Tiera enjoyed showering her daughter with affection and gifts.
“Any holiday, like Easter, she just went over beyond with gifts; any holiday was like Christmas for [Tiera’s daughter],” Herron smiled.
One of Herron’s favorite memories with Tiera involved having lazy days with Tiera’s sister, Mariah. They would spend those days in bed, watching movies and doing each other’s hair, she said.
“We’d fight over who gets to sleep in the middle,” Herron shared. “It would always end up being Tiera and [her daughter] in the middle.”
Herron said Tiera was "on the right path" at the time of her death. She explained her daughter was merely a month away from receiving her high school diploma at the time. She added that Tiera was going to join the U.S. Navy right after – somewhat a surprise for Roberson, who served in the U.S. Army.
“You would’ve thought she wanted to go to cosmetology because she was always wanting to do nails, hair and make-up… you couldn’t keep her out of your nail polish,” Roberson said.
Her love for make-up and hair also led Tiera to change her hair color frequently; she had green hair the day she went missing.
'She didn't go just lie down and die... Someone did that'
April 14, 2023 marked the last time Herron spoke to her daughter, she said.
“She said she had plans to go out with her friends, and I said ‘Ok, you be careful,’” Herron recalled their phone conversation. “I told her how much I loved her.”
She said Tiera went to Sixth Street that night. A little before 2 a.m. on April 16, Tiera was involved in a fight at the Mooseknuckle Pub, 406 E. 6th St., confirmed Bell County Sheriff's Investigator Corey Powell.
“During the fight, they had pulled some of her [green braids] out and they were left there on the street, on the pavement,” Roberson said.
Right after the fight, Tiera disbanded from her friends and left her belongings with them.
“Obviously, when you’re involved in an altercation, there is some anger there and I believe Tiera was, some people may describe it, as just going off to cool off,” Powell said.
That would be the last time anyone saw Tiera alive.
Powell said her friends tried to look for her that night, but they couldn’t find her. Herron said she got a call from Tiera’s phone that night while at work. When she called back later, around 3:30 a.m., but “[her friends] answered the phone,” she said.
“I didn’t really think anything of it, until they said they had all of her belongings and that’s when I realized something was wrong,” Herron said.
The anxiety grew for Herron when the morning came and she didn’t hear from Tiera. She soon learned that Tiera didn’t show up to work that day – something uncommon for her hardworking daughter. That’s when Herron filed a missing person’s report with the Austin Police Department.
“To know that she didn’t have a phone, she didn’t have her money… that leaves her in a place where she’s vulnerable,” Herron added.
Herron and her family also turned to Facebook, asking friends and strangers if they could help them find Tiera.
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Days later, Herron received a call that no mother ever wants to get. Authorities told her that during the morning of April 21, 2023, a passerby on his way to work discovered Tiera’s body in the grass along the 1300 block of Berger Road in Temple.
“I didn’t know what to do, I just froze, I couldn’t breathe,” Herron recalled the moment she heard the news.
"I was speechless, just speechless," Mitchell, Tiera's grandmother, said as she cried into her tissue. "It was hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to face in life, losing a granddaughter."
With the news came questions about what happened to Tiera, including how she ended up so far from home despite her car being found on Sixth Street after she disappeared.
"She didn't walk from Sixth Street. She didn't walk all the way to Bell County. She didn't go just lie down and die right where she was found, someone did that," Roberson said.
New surveillance video
A medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Tiera's body and couldn't determine what caused her death because of the condition of her body. However, Powell, who is the lead investigator on Tiera's case, believes there's a bigger story.
“Obviously, if you’re in Austin and you end up in Bell County, something bad happened to you,” Powell said.
Powell said Tiera likely died from homicide "based on things that we see in her body and the scene." He is hopeful that by releasing new surveillance video from Sixth Street, eyewitnesses will come forward and offer that one tip that may help him solve the case and bring Tiera's family justice and closure.
In the video, which was first released to 6 News, Tiera is seen walking alone around 2:09 a.m. Powell said this was shortly after the altercation she got into at the Mooseknuckle Pub.
"We have a multitude of citizens who may have seen something who may not even know that they saw something," he said pointing at the video. "Somebody may have seen her talking to somebody, may have seen her get into a car."
"If there is somebody out there like that, we would definitely appreciate them to come forward, try to remember, even the slightest bit," Roberson echoed. "It may not seem like not much, but it could turn out to be a big deal... every little piece we can get, we can put it into a completed puzzle."
Powell also clarified that the altercation and Tiera's disappearance are not connected.
'Still grieving so hard' | One year later
"I tell ya, this anniversary here is opening the wound all over again like it just happened this past weekend," Roberson said as she reflects the past year without her great niece. "The family is still grieving so hard. It's hard when you don't know, you don't have the answers."
"I have ups and downs, I pray a lot," Herron shared. "It comes in spurts where I just feel really bad, but I have to keep moving."
Herron explained that she is now raising Tiera's daughter, whom she requested not be named. At first, it was difficult for the then 6-year-old to comprehend what happened to her mother, but "she's getting better," Herron explained.
"Every day, she kisses her hand and blows a kiss up to her mom to heaven," Herron said. "She misses her mom very much."
Both Herron and Roberson stress that if somebody knows something about Tiera, they need to come forward, especially for Tiera's daughter.
"If someone else did something to your family, loved ones, or friends, you would want someone to speak up for you and for your deceased loved one," Roberson said. "... [Tiera's daughter] is going to wonder why... nothing ever got solved of her mother... We definitely need justice for her as well."
Mitchell added that even though it would be difficult for her, she'd offer forgiveness after everything that happened.
"I would forgive, as hard as it is. You still have to do it, that's how I feel," she said.
If you know what may have happened to Tiera, you can call the Bell County Sheriff's Department, or the Austin Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI.
More cold case stories written by Melissa Guz:
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