Lisa Flowers: Gone But Not Forgotten

Lisa Flowers was last seen on Aug. 15, 1991, by her mother, Melba Flowers, at approximately 2 p.m. The last to hear from her was her boyfriend at the time, Anthony Taylor, at 9 p.m. via phone. She was never heard from and seen again after that day.

Lisa called Anthony, whom she met working at McDonald’s, to say she was on way home from work but never showed up. Melba then reported Lisa missing, the police reports say.

Lisa worked at Just Like Home nursing home. Marie Zelke told police that Lisa left work and no one saw her again and she stopped showing up for work and never picked up her remaining paychecks. She rode the bus to and from work.

The bus driver said he didn’t remember her getting on the bus to go home that night, but it was possible she had taken another one. Her path from work to the bus stop took her past a parking lot where gang members hung out, the reports say.

That’s according to the never-before-released police reports.

Our Advanced Integrated Reporting class got exclusive access to missing persons files, through open records requests, from the Milwaukee Police Department where we looked into missing people of color in Milwaukee who weren’t all getting the media coverage they deserved. Through interviews with families and others, we uncovered stories that are often overlooked by the media. Among them is the case of Lisa Flowers, whose mother is still wanting updates from the Milwaukee Police Department.

The police reports show that Flowers got into a verbal argument with her mother before she disappeared.

“On Monday, August 12th, Lisa did return home and apologized about the fight. Lisa then went into her room and gathered up some of her clothing,” the reports say.

Lisa then told her mother, Melba, that she was going to house-sit for a friend who was going out of town and would be staying there for a couple of days or a week. Melba later found out that Lisa was actually going to her boyfriend’s house (Anthony Taylor).

“Lisa told her mother that she was going to be staying ‘at a lady’s house’ for a couple of days to house-sit. She told Melba that this lady was going out of town for a while and gave Lisa keys to her house to stay and house-sit,” the reports say.

Lisa took two pairs of jeans and an overnight bag with her, and she didn’t leave an address or phone number for her supposed house-sitting job.

“When Melba asked for the name, address, and phone number of this person, Lisa refused to give her the information. Melba said that Lisa then left for work around 2:30 p.m. Melba further states that she did not believe her daughter about house-sitting for some lady and she thought Lisa was going to be staying with Tony.”

Melba later found out that Lisa was actually at her boyfriend, Anthony Taylor’s, house.

“Melba said that about one year ago Lisa began seeing Tony… and said that Lisa has changed and ‘gone downhill ever since.'”

Taylor has had issues both before and since Flowers’ disappeared.

“Taylor was convicted and sentenced in federal court for multiple bank robberies that took place in 1996. After being released from prison for the 1996 offense, Taylor was again convicted and sentenced in Wisconsin state court in 2005 for another bank robbery offense,” according to Wisconsin’s Circuit Course Assessment.

Anthony E. Taylor was born June 1, 1966, and had a long criminal history, including multiple bank robbery convictions between 1986 and 2012, records say.

On August 15, 1991, Taylor was the last person to speak with Lisa via phone at approximately 9 p.m., the reports say. 

“He [as in Taylor] states a couple days after Lisa was missing, he decided to stay by his mother’s home. While there, he received a phone call from a man identifying himself as ‘Ed’ and he sounded like he was calling from a phone booth. ‘Ed’ asked him where the ‘old girl’ was.” He asked where he got his mother’s phone number, and he said ‘Mike.’”

Taylor has mentioned that Lisa had previously dated a guy named Mike before him but didn’t know his last name.

Taylor, in turn, raised accusations about Flowers’ mother, and told police there was conflict between mother and daughter over religion, the police reports say. According to the police reports, accusations were also made that Lisa had been victimized by a person connected to the same church community, but it was never reported to police at the time.

Venus, Lisa’s sister, mentioned to police that Lisa had started hanging out with a family that had a reputation for crack cocaine use.

“Mrs. Jones stated that she heard that this… family was heavily into using drugs,” according to the police file. 

Venus believed that Anthony Taylor was possessive and jealous of Lisa, but she did not believe he had been violent toward her. 

“A record check of Anthony Taylor, shows Taylor with a long juvenile record,” the police file says.

“Melba mentioned that she heard from the ‘grapevine’ that Lisa might have moved out of state, but the information was outdated,” the file notes.

Melba later stated that she thought she saw Lisa on multiple occasions after she went missing.

Melba reported seeing a silver Cadillac at a gas station. The woman driving the car resembled Lisa, wearing a gray sweatshirt with a hood, even though the weather was warm on Sept. 23, 1997. 

Melba Flowers believed she saw her daughter on CBS News about women living in shelters, focusing on the Joy House, a moment of hope for her. Officer Dennis Dalton followed up, speaking with the shelter’s supervisor, Anelia Brown, who vaguely remembered the Lisa Flowers name but couldn’t confirm her being there on April 5, 1998.

Melba also claimed she saw Lisa talking to another family member on a porch. People reported seeing Lisa on buses, at Capitol Court, and on Teutonia Ave. A woman who went to Jehovah’s Witness conventions with Melba said she saw Lisa at the then Grand Avenue Mall’s Boston Store. Police checked 66 stories but didn’t pick up her trail.

Marie Zelke, who employed Lisa at a nursing home, said that Lisa had mentioned seeing gang members at night before she went missing and that she would take the #30 bus. 

Police developed a theory that Lisa went to have a baby out of state because of her mom’s religious beliefs. But Planned Parenthood clinics had no record of her.

Melba discovered on Sept. 16, 1991, that Lisa had packed up some of her belongings into boxes while cleaning Lisa’s room.

“She stated that on Monday, 9-16-91, while cleaning Lisa’s room, she came across a phone book with a couple of addresses.”

Melba found a piece of paper with a handwritten phone number with the name “Jermaine” and reported the findings to the police according to the police report. 

Police investigated the phone number and located Gerold Campbell, who went by the name Jermaine, but he said he didn’t recognize Lisa when shown pictures and that he speculated that he may have met her a long time ago at a tavern but could not remember her.

Venus said that Lisa was “testing the waters” when growing up by doing things against their religion.

“Mrs. Jones stated that Lisa started drinking hard liquor, and was doing other things that were against their teachings.”

Melba asked to have Lisa’s photo published in local news outlets, but her request was denied by CBS, the police reports say. She then approached a community newspaper, which agreed to publish Lisa’s photo with details about the case.

In 2019, Melba expressed her continued desire to be kept informed about any updates on the investigation. Police got a tip that Lisa Flowers had turned up at a hospital, but it turned out to be a different person with the same name.

In June 2024, the mother was interviewed again.

Police talked to Melba who said she thought Lisa was hiding because “of all those girls being killed.” It’s not clear what she meant.

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into missing people’s cases in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.