A Texas woman was arrested earlier this month in California after she allegedly abandoned her toddler home alone while she went out of town to meet a man she met on a dating app.
Reese Louise Myers, 25, was charged with abandoning or endangering a child and given a $25,000 bond.
According to KWKT, Myers wasn’t arrested until November 4 after the July 28 incident in which they were called to check on a child spotted hanging out of a broken apartment window in Killeen, an arrest affidavit said. The officer found the 16-month-old child with his head and shoulders out of a ground level window. An aggressive dog was charging at other residents who tried to help the toddler.
The officer entered the apartment and found the child, wearing only a t-shirt, alone with two other dogs who were protective of him.
The affidavit noted that whoever abandoned the child took “precautions” for leaving the baby alone. All other doors were locked and a baby gate blocked the kitchen. The front door and windows, except for the one the baby was hanging out of, were locked.
Officers found a number for Myers, who freely told them she was in San Antonio, 160 miles away, to visit the man she met on the dating app. She also said she’d hired a babysitter via Facebook to look after the child, but that babysitter told officers she had not spoken with Myers since December 2023.
Officers reportedly told Myers to return to Killeen, but she did not do so, according to Law&Crime.
Police presented the case to the Bell County District Attorney’s Office, which returned charges against Myers. She was finally located and arrested earlier this month by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office in Barstow, California. She was extradited back to Texas to face the charge and was booked in Bell County on Wednesday.
The toddler was taken to Advent Health for an evaluation in July, and Child Protective Services took custody.