Tianna Ann Phillips: The Pennsylvania Mother Who Vanished After an Argument

Author

Benjamin Hayes

Publication Date

September 8, 2025

On a warm June evening in 2018, Tianna Ann Phillips was last seen leaving a friend's residence in the 400 block of east 9th Street in Berwick, Pennsylvania at 11:00 p.m. on June 13, 2018. She went to her friend's home and said she'd been in a fight with her boyfriend and that someone named "Dave" was going to pick her up. The 25-year-old mother of two would never return home, sparking a three-year mystery that would eventually reveal connections to one of Pennsylvania's most disturbing serial killers.

Tianna's disappearance was unlike her to go silent. She wasn't working at the time of her disappearance and didn't have a driver's license, and she left her cellular phone behind. It was quite uncharacteristic for her to be out-of-touch with her loved ones, and it was never believed that she went missing on her own accord. She had two young sons, who are now in the care of relatives.

The young woman had been in a tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend at the time of her disappearance. Just hours before she vanished, Tianna posted the following on her Facebook page: "FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW... ME AND SCOTT ARE NOT TOGETHER HE THREW ME OUT... WE ARE BROKE UP AND THATS HOW ITS GOING TO STAY...." This public declaration would prove to be one of her final communications with the outside world.

The Sister's Relentless Search

Tianna's disappearance devastated her family, particularly her sister, Toshia Feaster. From the moment Tianna was reported missing, Feaster knew something terrible had happened. Feaster told The Daily Item in 2018 that the family believed from the day she was reported missing "something bad had already happened."

Determined to find answers, Feaster took to social media to keep her sister's case in the public eye. She created a Facebook page "Bringing Home Tianna" in case it helps link Haulman to other missing people. The page became a beacon of hope for the family and a way to share information about Tianna's case.

During her search for answers, Feaster had been in contact with someone she didn't know would later be revealed as her sister's killer. Phillips' sister, Toshia A. Feaster, said Phillips and Haulman dated for about a year. After Phillips went missing, Feaster made multiple attempts to find her, including creating a Facebook page called "Bring Home Tianna," but credible information was never culled from it. When she messaged Haulman, he told her he didn't know where Phillips was.

The exchanges between Feaster and the man she knew only as "Dave" became increasingly desperate as time went on. In an Aug. 20, 2018, conversation, Feaster wrote, "She's been missing for 3 months. If no location is found today she will be labeled a missing person and you will be a person of interest. So whatever it is you know you need to speak up now." The next day Haulman said he couldn't remember the last time he saw her, relating that they last spoke when he offered to give her a ride.

The Monster Behind the Alias

The man Tianna knew as "Dave" was actually Harold David Haulman III, a serial killer with a violent past that stretched back decades. Harold David Haulman III (born November 28, 1978) is an American serial killer. Originally convicted for the murder of a fellow countryman in Germany in 1999, he was paroled and returned to the United States, where he murdered at least three women in Michigan and Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2020.

In 1999, at the age of 20, Haulman had pleaded guilty to killing an acquaintance, Joseph Lawrence "Jay" Whitehurst, the 21-year-old son of a U.S. Air Force colonel. Whitehurst had been beaten to death with a club. Because people under the age of 21 are considered juveniles in German criminal courts and because Haulman had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, he served only six years in a German reform school for Whitehurst's death.

After returning to the United States, Haulman appeared to lead a transient lifestyle. Between 2009 and 2020, Haulman changed several places of residence, he lived in Pennsylvania, California, Illinois and Maryland. In the 2010s, he married a woman named Ann, but they split up in 2013 because she did not want to participate in his bondage fantasies. From then onwards, Haulman began dating women he met through online dating sites.

It was through these online dating platforms that Haulman would meet his victims, including Tianna. Haulman stated that he often dated women he met online using the alias "Dave", and that his wife, Anne, knew about his affairs. Tianna Phillips and Haulman also reportedly met on a dating app years earlier. Haulman was married, but his wife knew of their affair. Tianna herself had another boyfriend as well.

The Fatal Night

The relationship between Tianna and Haulman became increasingly volatile as time went on. However, at some point, Haulman learned that Tianna's boyfriend also knew about their affair. For whatever reason, this made him angry. She said Haulman grew angry when he learned Phillips' boyfriend called her June 10, 2018, to report Phillips and Haulman were still together.

On the night of June 13, 2018, after Tianna's argument with her boyfriend, Haulman picked her up from her friend's house. What happened next would not be known for almost three years. During his confession, Haulman told police that he picked up Phillips and took her to a wooded area near Hobbie Road in Luzerne County. He walked into the woods and he told her they were going to build a fire. But instead, as he followed her he struck her over the head with a hammer several times and later slashed her throat with a knife before stabbing her multiple times.

As for the murder itself, Haulman said that he went on a date with Phillips, driving her to the same area where he murdered Shultz two years later. After assaulting her, he bludgeoned and stabbed her multiple times, then took photographs of the corpse and showed them to his wife, who did not contact the police.

The horrific details of what happened next showcase the depravity of Haulman's crimes. Haulman's wife told police her husband returned to their Duncannon home and confessed to the murder, but she didn't believe him. Haulman later gave her digital images of a deceased female and his wife told police she was shocked and scared.

The Cover-Up

Months after the murder, Haulman returned to the scene with his wife to dispose of evidence. Haulman's wife told police that several months after the crime had occurred, she went with him back to the site. She said he wanted to collect some of the evidence there. He took with him, he told police, black trash bags that he then filled with clothing and some of Phillips' body parts.

The pair then went to the crime scene, where Harold placed the clothing and skeletonized remains in a black plastic bag and then left them in a dumpster near the AMC Classic Bloomsburg II movie theater in Scott Township. This callous disposal of Tianna's remains would ensure that her family would never have the closure of laying her to rest.

The Investigation Breakthrough

The case remained cold for nearly three years until another tragedy brought Haulman to law enforcement's attention. On December 27, 2020, Haulman was arrested in Butler Township, Pennsylvania on charges of murdering 26-year-old Erica G. Shultz, who had gone missing on December 4 and whose corpse was discovered in the early morning hours of December 27 in the nearby woods.

He met both women on an online dating app. Haulman told police he killed Shultz in the same location along Hobbie Road two years later. That's where investigators found Shultz's remains.

It was during the investigation into Shultz's murder that Tianna's case finally broke open. Investigators say Feaster spoke with police after Haulman's arrest in Shultz's death in December and informed them Haulman had been in contact with her sister. Feaster said she had text message conversations with Haulman about her sister's disappearance, which she provided to Williams.

Justice and Sentencing

In May 2021, Harold David Haulman III was charged with criminal homicide in Phillips's case. The evidence against him was overwhelming, including his own confession and the testimony of his wife, who had been living with the knowledge of his crimes for years.

In August 2021, Haulman accepted a plea deal with Luzerne County prosecutors - in exchange for pleading guilty to the murders of Phillips and Shultz, they would not pursue the death penalty. As a result, he was instead sentenced to life imprisonment without the chance of parole.

At the sentencing, he maintained complete equanimity, expressed no remorse for his actions and refused to address the court. His callous behavior in the courtroom was consistent with the cold-blooded nature of his crimes.

Additional Victims

The investigation into Haulman's crimes revealed he was responsible for more than just Tianna's death. A few days later, Haulman confessed to yet another murder, this one being the June 12, 2005, murder of 21-year-old Ashley Marie Parlier in Battle Creek, Michigan. According to family members, Parlier ran away from home after an argument with her parents and never returned.

Authorities are saying he meets the criteria of a serial killer. The pattern of targeting vulnerable women through online dating platforms, combined with his history of violence dating back to 1999, painted a picture of a predator who had been operating for decades.

A Family's Ongoing Pain

Despite the conviction of Tianna's killer, her family continues to live with the pain of never recovering her remains. Phillips' sister says she's still hoping for that closure. "I'm sad that we haven't been able to locate my sister and lay her to rest but we still have hope and we will see this through 'till the very end," Feaster said.

The passage of time has not dulled the family's grief. "Today is SEVEN years without you! Im not sure how our family will get past something like this. It is a heartache that never stops hurting. Seven is a big deal, now begins the fight for your death certificate. I hold onto a little bit of hope that someday we will be able to find a small part of you to bring you home!"

The case of Tianna Ann Phillips serves as a stark reminder of the dangers that can lurk behind seemingly innocent online interactions. Her story is one of a young mother whose life was cut tragically short by a predator who used technology and deception to find his victims. While justice has been served in the legal sense, the absence of her remains continues to deny her family the closure they desperately seek. Tianna's memory lives on through her children and the tireless advocacy of her sister, who continues to hope that one day they will be able to bring Tianna home.

Sources

Benjamin Hayes

Benjamin Hayes is a blogger with a passion for true crime and unresolved mysteries. In his free time, Benjamin is an avid hiker and photographer. He finds solace and inspiration in nature, often trekking through the scenic trails of the Appalachian Mountains.