HOUSTON – A morning court appearance gave more insight into why the mother of a missing 2-year-old girl has been charged in the case.
Tianundra Christon, 21, went before a magistrate after being charged with child endangerment and making a false report.
College Station police said clothes belonging to Hazana Anderson were found in a dumpster at the park and they have evidence indicating her mother handled those clothes. However, police said when Christon was questioned about the clothes, she denied knowing anything about it.
"So that does alarm us when we have this and then, OK, what else (is she) not being possibly truthful with," said Lt. Craig Anderson.
Police said charges of child endangerment stem from Christon telling officers she left her child in a stroller in the park while she walked back to her car to get a bottle of water.
Hazana Anderson disappeared at Gabbard Park on Sunday morning, police said. The child's mother told police she had walked away to get a bottle for her daughter and, when she had turned back around, the child was gone, officials said.
Police said two people were fishing in a small pond nearby and heard Christon panicking called the police and attempted to help her find Hazana, officials said. The fishermen recalled seeing the stroller, but given their vantage point, could not recall whether they saw a child in the stroller.
According to authorities, Hazana was sitting in her stroller when she vanished, but she was not strapped in so it is unclear if she was taken or wandered off.
Police describe Hazana as being 3 feet tall and weighing 28 pounds. She was last seen wearing an olive green jacket, a black shirt that said "girl squad" on it, cream-colored pants, pink socks, dark pink shoes and a purple beanie, according to police.
Hazana has a dark-colored birthmark on the big toe of her left foot.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office brought in its K-9s and deputies after receiving a call for additional help, officials said.
KPRC2 spoke exclusively with the 2-year-old girl’s father.
Tabodrick Anderson told KPRC2 he has been in touch with Texas EquuSearch to help in the search for his daughter.
“She is the only thing I have. She is all I have. I want my daughter,” Anderson said.
Christon's arrest came as a shock to Anderson.
“When we were together, I didn't see her doing anything like this. I’m blindsided,” Anderson said.
Anderson said things turned sour once he and Christon had broken up. He noticed that Christon was no longer the committed mother she had once been.
“She started pushing off my daughter on me a lot more. She started disappearing, leaving my daughter with me for weeks,” Anderson said.
Anyone with information on Hazana's whereabouts is asked to call police at 979-764-3600.