Taylor Gordon allegedly called 911 to report her 7-year-old daughter missing, but she knew where the girl was all along, police in Florida say. (Brevard County Sheriff)
A Florida mother is facing several felonies after she allegedly reported her 7-year-old daughter with autism missing even though she knew where the girl was located.
Taylor Michelle Gordon, 32, called the Palm Bay Police Department just after 7 p.m. on Tuesday to report her daughter missing. She said the girl had just been dropped off and then ran away, a probable cause arrest affidavit said. Gordon reportedly pointed cops in the direction where her daughter ran off. The girl is known to run away and had cut off her Life Safer tracker from her ankle with scissors, the affidavit said.
Cops devoted several resources to the search, including four police dogs, a helicopter and at least 20 officers. They also sent out alerts via social media and emergency notifications to Palm Bay residents with the girl’s picture and description. Gordon reportedly told detectives that she and the person who dropped the girl off were arguing. She went into the house to throw something away and realized the girl was gone when she saw the tracker on the floor, the affidavit said.
Police also searched the home except for a room where a supposedly aggressive dog was located, but she told them she had already looked there without success. Officers eventually had her move the dog out of that room so they could look there. The affidavit is partially redacted, so it’s unclear where exactly cops found the girl, but it said she was located “covered in dust and debris.” In all, the search lasted three hours, according to cops.
The girl told cops she had run away from the house briefly but came back, cut off her ankle monitor and hid because she was “scared” of monsters.
Detectives reviewed footage from several cameras inside that showed the series of events. At 7:11 p.m., about five minutes after she called 911, Gordon is allegedly seen walking up to the girl’s hiding spot. “Don’t worry you won’t get in trouble,” Gordon allegedly tells her daughter. A couple minutes later Gordon is seen walking the police around the home, the affidavit said.
Gordon later told detectives that she lost sight of her daughter but quickly found her, according to the affidavit. She reportedly said she didn’t tell police this fact because “she didn’t know what to do.” Gordon also allegedly told detectives that the girl “was probably going to run away so she just reported it.”
The Palm Bay Police Department said the search cost more than $1,000, but that doesn’t include expenses from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, which supplied the helicopter and three police dogs.
Cops arrested Gordon on charges of child neglect, perjury, false information to a law enforcement office and misuse of 911. She has posted a $4,000 bond.
Records show she previously was arrested in 2018 for falsely reporting a crime when she staged a burglary at the towing business where she worked because she assumed a neighboring business she had been feuding with would be blamed. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation.
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