The family of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in Fort Worth after she was missing for 17 years has organized a GoFundMe to raise money for her funeral services.
The remains of Taalibah Fatin Bint Islam were found in early March in Fort Worth. A DNA test of the remains recently confirmed they were Islam’s, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office notified the Fort Worth Police Department on June 28.
“This is not the outcome my family and I were hoping for,” wrote Hadiyah Islam, Taalibah’s sister, on the GoFundMe page. “But it’s a sad and hard truth of what could happen when you put your trust into the wrong people.”
The medical examiner’s office has not been able to determine Taalibah’s cause and manner of death. Her remains were found in a heavily wooded area and it’s unclear how long they were there.
Her relatives have said that they suspected her ex-boyfriend who she had a son with, Christopher Revill, was involved in her disappearance, but he has not been charged in connection with Islam’s disappearance or death.
Revill told police in 2006 that he last saw Islam, who was his ex-girlfriend at the time, when she and their child visited him five days before he reported her missing.
He also told police that Islam, then 20 years old, left the residence where she visited him, left the baby behind, and got into a vehicle with an unknown person.
No one had heard from her since, according to police.
Revill was sentenced to life in prison in August 2019 after being found guilty of kidnapping another ex-girlfriend of his, Typhenie Johnson, who disappeared in 2016. Johnson is presumed dead, but her body has not been found.
On Saturday, Taalibah’s family had raised about $2,130 out of a $6,000 goal through the GoFundMe.
“She was 20 when we last saw her and now at the age of 37 we have to lay her to rest. Where she can rest in peace for good. The money will go towards her cremation, because her case is so old not too many funeral homes will take her,” Hadiyah wrote in the GoFundMe. “Hopefully I can give her her last resting place.”