Tamron Hall Tells ‘The View’ She Felt “Helpless” When Her Sister’s Murder Went Unsolved

Tamron Hall candidly opened up about her sister’s murder on this morning’s episode of The View — and how it played a part in inspiring a character in her new fiction book, Watch Where They Hide.

The novel, which is the second in a series, follows crime reporter Jordan Manning, who is loosely based on Hall’s beginnings as a journalist covering the same type of beat. When a stay-at-home mother disappears shortly after leaving her verbally abusive husband, her sister Shelly reaches out to Jordan to help bring attention to the case.

As Sunny Hostin pointed out, Hall suffered from PTSD as a result of covering crime — and writing the book has given her an outlet to take some of the weight off of her shoulders.

“I started writing this story because what I do is, I look for a case I’ve covered that I can’t shake and I start my writing process from there,” Hall said. “As I was writing, Jordan is normally me. She’s inspired by me. And when you read, you’ll see little nuggets of Tamron here and there.”

When she finished writing the book, she realized that Shelly reminded her of her sister, who was reportedly found dead face-down in her pool.

“[When] my sister’s murder happened, I felt so helpless,” she said. “I remember being on the phone with the detective and he said, ‘We know who did it but we can’t convict.’ Not enough evidence.”

She added, “So when I was writing Shelly, in the book you’ll see, she travels a great distance and she ambushes Jordan begging for her help. So that’s to resolve some of the helplessness that I felt.”

(Editor’s Note: The View is currently on hiatus; contrary to what you may have heard, The View was not canceled today. This article was originally published on March 12, 2024 when this episode first aired. The View will return with new episodes next week.)

While the case remains unsolved to this day, Hall has maintained that she believes it was an act of domestic violence. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, she previously had her nephew Leroy Moore III on her self-titled daytime talk show to talk about his mother’s murder.

“I carried much guilt for many years believing I had abandoned my sister and that I was more worried about career than family,” Hall said at the time, per Distractify.

Noting that he was “really close” with his mom, Moore admitted it took him many years to come to terms with her death.

“I had to own my mom’s death, is what I had to do. I had to realize that there were things I didn’t do and there were times I didn’t say something when I should of,” he said. “So I own that, and once I owned that, I realized the best way to give back is to make sure that nobody else went through what I went through.”

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.