Family Of Tulsa Woman Attacked In Casket Afraid For Children's Safety

The family of the woman attacked in her casket wants people to know she was a beautiful, loving woman. They also said they're worried for the safety of her children.

Wednesday, May 13th 2015, 8:23 pm

By: News On 6


The family of the woman attacked in her casket said they originally didn't want anyone to know her identity, but got tired of people referring to her as a corpse.

Now the family wants people to know that Tabatha was a beautiful and loving woman. But they also said they're worried for the safety of her children now that the suspect is out of jail.

Tabatha's sister-in-law, JuliAnn, said everyone in the family is afraid Shaynna Smith-Sims will come after them, now that she's bonded out of jail.

5/7/2015 Related Story: Tulsan Charged With Cutting Corpse At Funeral Caught On Video Attacking Another Woman

Sims is charged with five crimes after police said she went to the funeral home, cut Tabatha's face, took some of her hair and stole her shoes.

The family said Sims then went to Tabatha's house and told her children she needed pictures of their mother and some of her jewelry. Tabatha's children called police.

“The detectives tell me over and over again, they've never heard of this, they've had murders, homicides and suicides, all sorts of investigations, but, never heard of anything like this," JuliAnn said.

Tabatha was 38 when she died after dealing with health issues for many years. She was a single mother of four children, ages 4 to 18.

"She was a beautiful person inside and out. She had so much love in her heart. She always tried to help everyone. She was a great mom and a good friend to so many people. So many people loved her," said JuliAnn.

She said Tabatha had known Sims' husband when they were in high school and remained in touch with him over the years, but there was nothing between them, and no reason for Sims to attack Tabatha.

"You didn't hurt her. She went out of this world as pretty as she came into it. Who you hurt was her mother, her brother, her kids who have been through so much, her nieces, her nephews, so many people that loved her, but you didn't hurt her," JuliAnn said.

Tabatha's brother said his sister deserved to rest in peace and her family should've been allowed to say goodbye in peace.

The family hopes the case goes all the way to a jury trial and would like to see Sims sent to jail for the crimes.

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