Woman Organizes Search Party for Missing Boyfriend After Murdering Him: “Just Next-Level Evil”

Taylor Wardlaw called 911 to report her boyfriend missing from their Columbia, South Carolina home on Dec. 22, 2021, all the while knowing exactly where his body lay, according to police.

The 29-year-old claimed she’d last seen 26-year-old Terrell Sims at their home with their baby on Dec. 20 before he left. By the end of December, she organized a search for him on social media. But it was only days after he disappeared that a friend came forward to accuse Wardlaw of not only killing Sims but using her new boyfriend to help get rid of his body.

“I think it’s really crazy how she killed him, disposed of him, and then helped everybody look for his body,” Jessica Nowlin, Columbia police sergeant, said on Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen. “That’s just next-level evil.”

Taylor Wardlaw and Terrell Sims met in 2018 and moved in together, but friends told police their relationship was chaotic.

Taylor Warlaw and Terrell Sims. Photo: Oxygen

“Taylor would do different things as far as tracking [and] monitoring his calls,” Marcella Jacobs, Sims’ sister, said on Snapped. “She would do a lot of stuff to keep tabs on him. He couldn’t do anything without her knowing it.”

Just before they had a child together in 2020, Wardlaw called the police for domestic violence.

“She relayed to them that he had put a gun to her nine-month pregnant belly [and] threatened her life,” said Kathryn Cavanaugh, prosecutor, on Snapped.

Sims was arrested, missed the birth of his child, and spent nearly a year in jail before Wardlaw posted his bail in August 2021. He was wearing a tracking monitor and facing domestic violence charges when he went missing a few months later, his relationship with Wardlaw rekindled.

“There was a strict no-contact provision in his bond, so he was not supposed to be in contact with her — certainly not living with her,” Cavanaugh said.

The monitoring company had contacted Sims’ family on Dec. 21 to report the bracelet had been tampered with and had last pinged on Monticello Road in Columbia.

A week after Sims went missing, a friend of Wardlaw’s came forward to police, and reported Wardlaw and a man named Eddie “Youngsta” Brown had just been at her house late at night.

“Taylor told her, ‘I did it — I killed Terrell,’” Mitch Henry, Columbia police sergeant, said on Snapped. “Taylor said that he had come home late, and they got into some sort of argument.”

Wardlaw’s friend claimed Wardlaw said she shot Sims four times after he hit her, and Brown helped her move his body.

“So, as they’re driving out there, they remove the ankle monitor from Terrell’s leg and toss it out a window,” Henry said.

Taylor Warlaw. Photo: Oxygen

As police began their search for Sims’ body near Monticello Road, they found out the day Sims went missing, Wardlaw visited a pawn shop to sell his mouth grill.

“Within 12 hours of killing her child’s father, someone that she supposedly cared about, that she’s interested in seeing how much money she can get from his one piece of jewelry is kind of mind-blowing,” Cavanaugh said.

Search teams found Sims’ ankle monitor about a mile from a creek. Police also processed Wardlaw’s rental car and found a bullet hole in the hood, as well as traces of blood in the trunk. Traces of Sims’ blood were also found in the home he shared with Wardlaw.

Brown and Wardlaw were seen on camera driving together between 4:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 20, which helped police narrow a search area. On Jan. 5, 2022, officers found Terrell Sims’ body partially submerged in a creek. An autopsy showed he’d been shot four times, including once in the back.

“All of that just goes to show a cover-up of a killing versus if it was self-defense,” Cavanaugh said.

An examination of Taylor Wardlaw’s cell phone records provided a motive for why she murdered Terrell Sims.

“There was a relationship going on between Taylor and Eddie,” Henry said. “She was planning to in some capacity leave Terrell for Eddie.”

Despite this, police said Wardlaw was upset at the idea of Sims being unfaithful to her.

“The only motive that we could clearly see was just her anger towards him that she thought he was cheating on her,” Cavanaugh said. “She was calling him over and over and over that night. I’m sure that her rage was building over the course of those hours.”

Police said Sims’ phone activity stopped after about 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 20.

“I think something just kind of broke inside her mind. We believe Taylor snapped,” Henry said. “She obviously had a plan because she knew to go immediately to Eddie. I think that she had just had enough.”

Eddie Brown admitted he helped Wardlaw move the body and cover up the evidence. He has not been convicted of any charges. On March 24, 2024, Wardlaw pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Her earliest release date in 2038.

Watch all-new episodes of Season 35 of Snapped on Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.