A South Carolina woman who was found dead weeks after being dumped by her boyfriend on her birthday wrote a distressing final Facebook post the day before she went missing.
Ta’haley Payton, 22, was found dead near a park in Charlotte, South Carolina on Monday, over three weeks after she was last seen on November 20.
The day before, she posted ‘iT’S MY BIRTHDAY AND I HATE IT HERE!!’ after reportedly being dumped by her boyfriend, then finding him with another woman.
She then commented on her own post, saying ‘I feel like TRASH.’
According to family members, Payton, originally from Greenville, South Carolina, had traveled to Charlotte with her boyfriend, who is also the father of her child, to celebrate her birthday.
Payton reportedly had an argument with her boyfriend at a hotel in north Charlotte.
The following day, he allegedly drove off without her. A hotel employee corroborated the incident.
Payton’s last Facebook post before she disappeared
Payton used a cookie shop employee’s phone multiple times to call her mother and message her boyfriend, reportedly saying, ‘I’ll sleep outside tonight, and I’m sorry for everything’
Emily Stewart, an employee at a Crumbl cookie shop in Midtown, said she came in multiple times to the location between 5 and 6 pm, asking for help.
‘She just asked to use my phone and I just handed it to her. She said her boyfriend kicked her out of the car. He was found with some other girl and she needed a ride,’ Stewart told WSOC-TV.
Stewart said Payton used her phone multiple times to call her mother and message her boyfriend, reportedly saying, ‘I’ll sleep outside tonight, and I’m sorry for everything.’
Other employees in the area reported seeing Payton that night, but her family and friends never heard from her again.
Loved ones were actively searching for Payton in the days following her disappearance.
On December 3, her best friend, Kelanie Davis, updated the community on their search efforts.
‘Me and her family, we have been knocking door to door to try and spread the word to the locals and it’s extremely hard,’ she said.
The investigation remains ongoing and cops have yet to disclose any details of how Ta’haley died.
Her ex-boyfriend, Setoby Armstrong, 25, was arrested for DUI and fleeing police last month in South Carolina, the NC Beat reported.
Armstrong was apprehended early on the morning of November 26 after attempting to evade police while livestreaming on Facebook.
Ta’haley Payton, 22, was found dead weeks after being dumped by her boyfriend
Her ex-boyfriend, Setoby Armstrong, 25, was arrested for DUI and fleeing police last month in South Carolina
The community is mourning Payton’s loss. Her family and friends have planned a balloon release on Saturday in Midtown to honor her memory, according to a Facebook post.
‘She is always dancing,’ wrote her sister, Karlotta Payton.
‘She is always trying to sing, her and my momma, they love Whitney Houston. I just hope they figure out what happened because that’s one of the worst things — not knowing,’ she said.
A GoFundMe campaign was also launched to help cover funeral costs and to retrieve her from Charlotte.
Family friend Mary Davis expressed the heartbreak felt by those who knew her.
‘It’s disheartening to know she was out here alone when she should have been with someone who cared for her,’ she told WSOC-TV.
