Tanja Jessica Stuermer

Stevie
Jan 8, 2024
4 min read

I was born in and have lived in Michigan for my entire life so I feel especially drawn to happenings here. I fully intend to cover a lot of Michigan's cases or Missing, and will have a separate tag or spot for them eventually. This is why I was drawn to Tanja's case when searching for a missing person to cover this week.

Tanja Jessica Stuermer was born to Hans and Barbara Stuermer in Brooklyn, Michigan in 1979. Her parents immigrated here from Germany sometime in the 70's, settling in Brooklyn, where Tanja was born and raised. From what I have been able to gather, it looks as if only she and her mother moved from Brooklyn to Jackson, also in Michigan, in 2013. This is where she was living at the time of disappearance. Her father has not really been mentioned in any of the articles about her disappearance. I won't make any assumptions or judgements on that because I do not know why. It is not my place to do so.

Her mother, Barbara, passed on February 9, 2018. She had been diagnosed with cancer for a third time, and was worried about Tanja's care and future, so she appointed a family friend as the trustee for Tanja, and asked that they look in on and befriend her. Yes, Tanja was in her late thirties, but according to multiple news articles and The Charley Project, she was disabled, mentally ill, and needed treatment and medication for her conditions. It's understandable that she would be concerned.

Tanja was last seen by her trustee on November 28th, 2018, when she took her to the Secretary of State to get a new State I.D. Tanja did not have a vehicle and often relied on rides from others or cabs to get around. She also often walked from her apartment to nearby stores and to the library.

It is assumed that the last real sighting of Tanja happened December 20th, 2018. She was spotted by a neighbor in the hallway outside of her apartment at the Renaissance Apartments complex, in the 700 block of West Michigan Avenue. In one instance, it's noted that she was POSSIBLY seen at that time; So I can't say whether or not that was an actual sighting or if they just thought it was her. However, whatever the case may be, this is listed as the date she went missing and the last date of contact.

It has been noted by her trustee though, that she missed multiple appointments at the local behavioral health agency, where she was an outpatient. In one place, it is listed that she missed them for a few months leading up to her disappearance, while others state it was only a few appointments, in December, before she went missing.

Her trustee also stated in one article that she had a key to Tanja's apartment and when she went to check on her - I'm assuming after she missed her appointments - all of her belongings were still there, including her purse, wallet, I.D.s, laptop, etc.

Her family and trustee have come to the conclusion that she had to have been abducted, is a victim of human trafficking, took a ride from a stranger because it was cold, or that she has to be dead somewhere, potentially even having froze to death because it was so cold at the time of her disappearance. They were noted as saying they had "kind of given up hope" for a happy outcome just four short months after her disappearance.

The only other possible thing to note is that a severely decomposed, female body was pulled out of the Grand River in Jackson, on May 11th, 2019, just a few short months after Tanja's disappearance. While police were able to determine that it was a female, that only happened after an autopsy, she was that decomposed. They did note after the autopsy as well, that there were no visible signs of trauma. There seem to be no further updates on who this woman was that I can find. There were many speculations that this may have been Tanja but she is still listed as missing and there has been no other information.

Tanja is listed as a white female, and is mostly listed as being 5'5'', 180 pounds, though there are slight differences on this. These numbers are the ones that are stated most often. She has blue eyes, brown hair, and pierced ears. She is classified as endangered missing due to her conditions and the fact that she has now been missing for just over five years.

There is a $1,000 reward being offered for any information on Tanja or her whereabouts. If you have any information, please contact the Jackson Police Department at (517) 788-4100.