Episode 136: Tyler Weathersby

When a local entrepreneur leaves for his morning walk but doesn’t return home, family members and investigators set out to find him. Where is Tyler Weathersby?

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Surveillance footage of Tyler on the morning of September 4, 2024

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Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you a missing persons case that was recommended to me by a listener, so a special thanks to Mitchell 911 for bringing this story to my attention. I believe that someone out there holds the key to bringing Tyler home. This episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

On the morning of Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 31-year-old Tyler Weathersby woke up early and headed out for a morning walk, his wife and three children still asleep in their beds. Tyler often took walks around their suburban neighborhood in Sioux Falls, sometimes two or three times a day. He saw it as a time to clear his head, to meditate and refresh his spirit.

On this particular morning, Tyler left the house around 7:15, not long after sunrise. When he returned half an hour later, his wife Monalisa was getting their two older kids ready for school. Tyler helped her get everyone in the car, strapping their six-month-old baby in her carseat. After exchanging kisses and “I love yous,” Monalisa pulled the car out the driveway and Tyler headed out for his second walk of the day.

Monalisa dropped the kids off at school and made her way back to the house, but when she went inside, she noticed that Tyler wasn’t back yet. This wasn’t unusual – sometimes Tyler would be gone for an hour or two if he really needed a mental break. But as the hours ticked by and Tyler still didn’t return, Monalisa began to worry. He hadn’t taken his phone with him, and his wallet and keys still sat in their usual spot.

Monalisa tried to think of reasons why Tyler would be gone for so long. He was very into fitness and clean living – maybe he had decided to go for an extended walk or had stopped somewhere to exercise. Perhaps he had taken extra time to meditate or had run into a friend and stopped to chat.

But when Tyler still wasn’t back by 10:30, Monalisa was in a panic. She called her mom and sister to let them know what was going on, then got back in the car and started driving around. She told Dateline, “I searched around the neighborhood, I went to his meditation spot. I was freaking out at this point.”

Finally, after hours of fruitless searching, she called the Sioux Falls Police Department and filed a missing persons report. She told them what time Tyler had left and what he had been wearing – a white t-shirt and black shorts – and that he had left his phone and wallet at home. Officers checked the area, circling back through the neighborhood and retracing some of Tyler’s favorite routes, but they didn’t have any luck.

The next step was to knock on doors and ask if anyone had seen Tyler. One neighbor had a doorbell camera that captured Tyler leisurely strolling down the sidewalk early that morning, looking completely relaxed and unbothered as the sun rose over the trees. A short while later, traffic cameras spotted Tyler at the corner of Marion Road and W. Madison Street, less than a mile from his house. At the intersection, Tyler stopped and appeared to be conversing with someone on a bicycle. He then turned to speak with another person in a vehicle before returning to the person on the bike. Tyler appeared comfortable with the two individuals and didn’t show any signs of distress.

Shortly after these interactions, the cameras showed Tyler crossing the intersection and walking east along the sidewalk towards Interstate 29. He wasn’t seen again.

By this point, Tyler’s family and friends were all aware of what was happening. They spread the news on social media and organized search teams to scour the area surrounding Tyler’s neighborhood. If Tyler had continued down Madison Street, he would have passed under the interstate and ended up near the fairgrounds. The state fair had ended on September 2nd, but perhaps a staff member or someone at the campground had seen him. His friends talked to employees and handed out fliers with Tyler’s picture.

Surrounding the fairgrounds was the Knife River Quarry, a massive operation with crew members onsite around the clock. Police officers worked with the Knife River company to search the upper rim of the quarry, and one of Tyler’s friends flew a drone over the entire property. But nothing showed up.

Days passed with no sign of Tyler. It was truly as if he had vanished into thin air.

Detectives began to look into Tyler’s life; perhaps there was some clue that could lead to his whereabouts.

Tyler had grown up in Chicago, Illinois, a creative kid who had big dreams. He idolized his older brother Gregory, and the two of them made a plan to get out of their rough neighborhood. After Tyler graduated from art school, he and Gregory headed to Los Angeles, where they started their own dance crew and got signed to a talent agency. They used their new connections to launch a music career and a clothing brand. Tyler began to experiment with photography and film editing. Eventually he decided that he wanted to try something different. Gregory headed back to Chicago, and Tyler settled in South Dakota, hoping to make a fresh start. It was there that he met Monalisa Perez.

Tyler and Monalisa became friends, connecting over their love of music and fashion. They both had struggled in their teenage years – Monalisa had gotten pregnant at just 14 years old, and now she had two children with a man she described as manipulative and abusive. Then, in 2017, her boyfriend died tragically after one of his YouTube stunts went wrong, and Monalisa was charged with second-degree manslaughter. After that, she struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts, but her friendship with Tyler kept her grounded. Eventually, as the months passed, Tyler and Monalisa became more than friends, and in 2021, they married. Tyler became a father to Monalisa’s two children, and three years later, they welcomed a baby girl into the family.

Both very creative people, Tyler and Monalisa launched a business together in 2018, a clothing brand they named wäke. A year later, they started a podcast about their journey towards entrepreneurship, the highs and lows of their situation, especially when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In January of 2021, the couple was interviewed by the West Central Tribune about their business and how they had found healing through creativity. Tyler told the reporter, “I believe that at the end of the day, if we all love ourselves and build a personal deep relationship with ourselves, then I feel that’s the answer to everything… At the end of the day, it’s about being who we need to be for ourselves.”

But now that Tyler was missing, investigators had to wonder if any of his previous struggles had contributed to his disappearance. Tyler had been open about his mental health issues in the past, especially in times of stress. But according to his family, he had been doing fine in the days leading up to September 4th. There was really only one incident that could possibly be cause for concern.

At the end of August, Tyler’s mom Janine had flown in from Chicago to spend time with the family and to meet her new granddaughter. On September 2nd, Monalisa posted pictures of their time together, expressing how much fun they’d been having. But the next day, something went awry: Tyler and his mother got into an argument. Janine told Dateline that the incident was unusual and unsettling. “It was out of character for him. We’ve never had an argument; we’ve never exchanged words.”

After the argument, Tyler drove his mother to the airport, even though her flight didn’t leave until the next day. Upset, Janine called her oldest son, and Gregory put her up in a hotel for the night. He then immediately called Tyler and demanded to know what was going on. But Tyler wasn’t making any sense. Gregory told Dateline, “Tyler didn’t sound right… It was like he was speaking in circles and wouldn’t really explain what happened.”

Monalisa noticed the same odd behavior when Tyler returned to the house that night. “The stuff he was saying was extremely not like him. It was really, really odd.” She said that Tyler was still upset from the argument with his mom, and that he couldn’t seem to settle down. Neither of them slept well that night. The next morning, Tyler left for his walk and didn’t return.

Investigators wondered if this incident could have been enough to spur Tyler into some sort of action. Had he just been trying to clear his head with a meditative walk, or had he decided to skip town for a while? The intersection where he was last seen is right off the interstate – had he hitched a ride from someone, a ride that maybe had taken an unexpected turn? Who were the two people he had spoken to at the intersection? Tyler didn’t have his phone or his wallet, no money or identification. How far could he have gotten on his own?

As September rolled on, detectives followed up on numerous leads. There had been several reports of individuals in the area who resembled Tyler, but unfortunately, none of those panned out. The family hired a private investigator to help with the search, which would give them more resources. They continued to organize searches and peppered the city with missing posters.

On September 23rd, Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum held a press conference in which he encouraged the public to keep calling in with tips. “Tips are key on this. We’re still getting tips over the weekend that have come in that have led us to some new directions and some spots we can check.”

He also emphasized that although they didn’t believe this was a criminal investigation, they were still determined to follow through. “We investigate everything with the same tools and tactics, whether it says criminal or not.”

September rolled into October, and the days continued to pass with no sign of Tyler. Gregory told Dateline, “I don’t know if my brother is still out there, I don’t know if my brother is alive. I want to know that my brother is okay.”

As of this recording, Tyler has been missing for four months. The Sioux Falls Police Department has said that they don’t have any reason to believe that Tyler met with foul play. Public Information Officer Sam Clemens told KELO that although they’ve exhausted every lead, they aren’t giving up. “There’s not a whole lot of detail I can go into about what we’ve done or what we are in the process of doing but we are doing everything we can to find him.”

Both Monalisa and Tyler’s mom Janine have said that they don’t believe Tyler would harm himself. The women believe that Tyler is still alive but that he may not be in his right mind, that he needs help to get home.

Tyler Blake Weathersby was last seen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. He was spotted at the intersection of Marion Road and W. Madison Street near Interstate 29. Tyler is described as a 32-year-old Black male with brown eyes, 6 feet tall with a slim build. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing black shorts, a white t-shirt, and dark-colored Air Jordan shoes. His head and face were shaved, but by now he may have short black hair and a beard. His ears are pierced and he has a tattoo of a crown with a halo on his right forearm.

If you have any information about Tyler’s whereabouts, please contact the Sioux Falls Police Department at 605-367-7212 or the Sioux Falls Crime Stoppers tip line at 605-367-7007. I will also link to the online tip form in the show notes if you would like to leave an anonymous tip.