Body found in Harris Co.
. . . confirms mother's worst fears
For more than two months, Deandrae Emerson had been waiting for any information about her daughter. This week, she learned that the missing 31-year-old was dead, her decomposed body found in a shallow ditch in northeast Harris County. “It was really traumatic. It's still traumatic to me,” Deandrae Emerson said Tuesday.
A motorist came across Sukari Emerson's remains on Jan. 19 after pulling over for mechanical problems in the 11600 block of 1st Street. After walking a short distance along the utility easement, the motorist discovered the woman's body lying in the adjacent ditch. Sheriff's detectives said they couldn't find anything to identify her at the scene. The cause of death has not been determined, officials said.
The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office called Deandrae Emerson early Saturday and told her that the body discovered last week was her daughter's. Sukari Emerson last spoke to her mother on Nov. 10. “She said she was going out of town. She never did get back in touch with me,” Deandrae Emerson said.
The holiday season was grim. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's came and went with no word from Sukari Emerson, who had left her five children in her mother's care. “They wanted to see their mom. They thought their mom was coming, but she never did,” Emerson said. The identity of the person Sukari Emerson left with remains a mystery for her mother. Nor does she know where her daughter and her companion were going. “She didn't tell me,” her mother said. “All she said was (she) was going out of town with somebody in a truck.”
She is now left to plan her daughter's funeral and care for her grandchildren, who range in age from 8 months to 11 years.
Killer ‘can't hide' : “It's hard but I've got to do it,” Deandrae Emerson said. “I come from a large family so I'm used to a lot of people being around all the time.” Sukari Emerson had been working as a dental assistant until she went on medical leave for her youngest child's birth, her mother said.
She said her daughter never mentioned anything about having any problems with relationships that might offer any clues into her death. “She was a nice lady who got caught up in a bad situation,” her mother said.
She won't give up until her daughter's killer is behind bars, Emerson said. “I know he can run, but he can't hide,” she said of the person responsible for the slaying. “Something is going to come up.”
Anyone with information about Emerson's death is asked to call Harris County sheriff's detectives at 713-967-5810, or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
- By Mike Glenn, Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle, January 26, 2010
Daniel Pinna 
Kathy Pinna 
