Community search begins for missing 20-year-old last seen in SW Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A community search is underway for a missing woman last seen nearly two weeks ago on the night of her birthday in southwest Houston.

Shawtyeria Waites disappeared from the 8900 block of Chimney Rock Road near Braeswood on July 27.

According to community activist Quanell X, Waites was with two other women that night.

Loved ones are meeting in the Meyerland area on Friday to start the search.

Earlier this week, the two women shared details of that night Waites went missing.

They said they had all met a man while at the club earlier that night. That man then invited them to an apartment complex after the club, according to Quanell.

Witnesses told Quanell they remember seeing Waites enter the apartment complex, but have no recollection of what door she knocked on.

Meanwhile the other two women had gone to a store down the street.

"This is not to disparage anyone, but the young girls had been dancing at a nightclub, and they thought that they might want to come here and make a few extra dollars," Quanell said during a press conference Sunday afternoon. "[The man] had large sums of money on him and was spending large sums of money at the strip club."

The two women said that when they came back from the store, they called Waites' phone but there was no answer. Shortly after, her phone was cut off completely, Quanell said.

Investigators told ABC13 earlier this week that Waites is not originally from the Houston area. They said her family is in New Mexico.

Waites was last seen wearing a pink dress, pink sandals and was wearing a long, black curly hair wig, according to Houston police.

Waites is a 20-year-old Black female with black hair and brown eyes. She's 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighs around 130 pounds.

If you have any information about Waites' disappearance, call the Houston Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 832-394-1840 or 911.