HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- What happened to Tracy Butler Epps? A host of family and friends still have burning questions nearly one year after she disappeared from a Henrico hotel where friends said she lived with her husband.
LC Epps is believed to have been the last person to see his wife alive on March 1, 2022.
Friend Jessica Felts said learning about hotel video footage obtained by police dashed their hopes of finding her alive.
“They pulled cameras at the hotel and saw LC had rolled something pretty body-like on a luggage rack,” Jessica Felts said. “She would have been wrapped in a tan hotel blanket. Which we have one that's very similar, so we know what to look for when we are looking for her. But at that point he left the hotel, and we don't know where he went or what he did.”
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The twist to the story is that Tracy's husband was shot and killed by Richmond Police a few days later. It was a bizarre incident on a front porch of a Richmond home when he refused to put down his gun when ordered by police.
Dianna Felts, Jessica's mother, said her lifelong best friend was in a domestic abuse situation. The last day she spoke to Tracy, she was making plans to pick her up the next day at a doctor's appointment, but Dianna Felts said she never saw Tracy again.
Since then, Dianna and her daughters have started a nonprofit called Chicadee's Escape to help other domestic violence victims.
“It helped me deal with it and I don't want another person, man or woman to go through what she went through," Dianna Felts said.
Jessica Felts said helping other victims is a way to honor Tracy's legacy.
"It came about because Tracy called my mom Chickadee," Jessica Felts explained. "And one of the last things she said was, 'I love you, Chickadee.' So that's where we are pulling from and it grounds us and gets us to where we need to be and it keeps Tracy in the heart."
Jessica Felts and her mother are not giving up. In fact, they are organizing a massive, all-day search for Tracy's body on Saturday, March 4 in the Seven Pines/Varina area. It is a place they say Tracy's husband grew up and frequented.
They are asking for volunteers to come out and join the search.
“Please come out and help us find Tracy, so we can give her a proper burial and put her to rest the way she needs to be put to rest," Dianna Felts pleaded.
WTVR CBS 6 reached out to Henrico Police for an update on the case. Officials with the department said that while there are no new leads, a detective is in constant contact with the family and that officers are aware of the search.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
