Burned, shot, left for dead: Louisiana teen's family raises money for recovery after abuse

A tortured and dying Thibodaux teen fought back causing the car crash in Texas that led to her rescue in April. The family is now raising money for the year's worth of surgeries required for her recovery.

"My baby girl saved herself," Timothy Johnson said. He said his daughter told him. "They were trying to shoot her again and she was kickin' and he lost control."

His daughter Tamyra is in strong spirits and speaking. She has countless surgeries and skin grafts ahead of her to repair her injuries. Police say these injuries were from an abusive mother, and the mother's fiancé.

According to law enforcement, Tamyra's biological mother, Latonya Harris, and her fiancé Terrence Washington, tortured the teen. Harris and Washington face multiple charges including attempted murder after they were found to have a dying Tamyra in their car when it wrecked in Baytown, Texas. If not for the car wreck, April 20, police say Tamyra may not have been found alive.

She needs pallet and she will also need to have an eye removed. She is currently covered by Medicaid, but these surgeries are considered cosmetic. Her stepmother has started a GoFundMe to help with the costs.

The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office said Harris burned the teen in February after learning that Washington raped her. The Sheriff's Office also said Washington shot the girl on two separate days in the weeks leading up to finding her in Texas.

Johnson said his daughter told him the two were preparing to get rid of her in Texas.

Washington is still in Texas awaiting extradition. Harris faces arraignment in Houma's courthouse, June 24.

A survivor

"From a marine's perspective, she was a true warrior and a survivor," Terrebonne Sheriff Tim Soignet said during a press conference, Thursday, May 16. "I'll continue to pray for that lady, and her recovery."

Johnson received the grim news April 21 at 7:56 a.m. and didn't believe it was real. Twice he hung up on the caller, but the third time a member of the hospital staff was put on the line. He quickly left work and rushed to Texas.

When Johnson visited his daughter in the hospital, the doctor told him to brace himself for what he would see. He said were it not for the machines helping her breathe, he would have thought she was dead.

"We walked in there, and my wife would tell ya, it was…" he exhaled and looked at the sky. "I thought, to be honest, she looked like a dead person… You could still smell the burnt skin."

Tamyra received third and fourth-degree burns over 30% of her body. She was later shot once in the head and once in the chest. Stepmother Latricia Johnson said Tamyra told her the couple had left her in a room after Harris lit her on fire. Her abusers gave her painkillers and nausea medicine but denied her emergency treatment for the deadly injuries, Latricia said Tamyra told her. She was too weak to move from pain and infection and lay in the same spot for over a month.

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"My sister had a towel wrapped around her, you could see the ash on the towel," Johnson said. He then pointed at the nearby fire pit, "Nothing, was ever washed. It was like if I would get ash out of there, that's what came out of her hair."

Latricia said she feels guilty, because Tamyra lived with her and her husband for five years from 2017 to 2022, but wanted to reconnect with her biological mother. Johnson was hesitant, but Latricia said she encouraged Tamyra. A mother and daughter's bond is sacred, she said, but she never imagined anything like this.

"She just wanted her mom to love her," Latricia said. "When we made the decision to let her go back, I never thought that that would be the worst decision ever. The last place that you think you have to worry about a child going, or a child being with, is their own mother, and that was the worst place she could have went."

Before 2017, Tamyra had been living with Harris, but, according to Latricia, a stranger found the teen on the side of the road with a sign that said she missed the school bus. The stranger drove her to her school, and the school contacted Johnson. Tamyra moved in with Latricia and Johnson in Napoleonville after the incident.

Latricia and her daughter Tylaijae Washington describe Tamyra as independent. Even as an eight-year-old, she knew how to prepare breakfast and be up for school without any help. Washington said Tamyra would even insist on braiding her own hair, which could take up to six hours. She attended H. L. Bourgeois High School and took part in basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, and dance team.

Things began to grow concerning last year when Tamyra's phone calls and visits diminished, the family said. They began to look into Tamyra's whereabouts, and in March they learned Harris had removed Tamyra from the school in September to begin homeschooling. She had missed over 20 days of school. Johnson said he asked his daughter why she never told anyone about what was going on, and she told him the couple threatened her family's safety. Since their arrests, Johnson said he has received death threats through social media.

Since the crash, Johnson has had legal custody of Tamyra. He said even after all she's been through, she is in good spirits and keeping a sense of humor. She told him she wanted to become a lawyer to protect others from ever having to face what she did. She is ready to return home and has a big appetite. He said she has asked for gumbo, ice cream, lasagna, Rotel dip, and requested a crawfish boil.

Tamryn's GoFundMe can be found athttps://www.gofundme.com/f/support-tamyras-journey-to-recovery.

"She's thinking about eating," Johnson said. "She wants to come home and enjoy herself. I said 'we're going to love on you, and gonna have fun as a family,' you know, that's what I plan on doing."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Louisiana teen's family raises money for recovery after abuse