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Questions remain about how Missouri family at center of Amber Alert ended up in Texas

St. Charles County Police said they still don't know if this was a legitimate kidnapping or a language barrier issue. An investigation is underway.

O'FALLON, Mo. — One day later, there are still questions about how a mother and her two daughters from O'Fallon, Missouri, ended up in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Missouri Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert for the three Monday morning. About eight hours later, they were found safe.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the 22-year-old mom and her daughters, ages 6 and 7, left their home in O'Fallon with two unknown men Sunday night.

Officials confirmed they were found safe and together on Monday afternoon in Corpus Christi, Texas, by local police, U.S. Marshals and the FBI.

MSHP said all three were with the children's father, who was already in Corpus Christi.

This case has sparked questions about whether authorities followed proper protocols when they issued that Amber Alert. 

On Tuesday, 5 On Your Side spent all day questioning authorities about how this all played out and worked to obtain new information.

St. Charles County Police said they still don't know if this was a legitimate kidnapping or a language barrier issue.

They said the family is Honduran and information coming from a third party may have contributed to the thought that they were in danger, which is why they said the Amber Alert was issued out of precaution.

St. Charles County Police Department Spokesperson Cpl. Barry Bayles said it wasn't for a lack of Spanish-speaking officers.

The department does have Spanish-speaking officers, but part of the language barrier had to do with what the mother was texting and how it was interpreted.

Bayles said the third-party individual said it seemed cryptic or forced, but police never had direct contact with the mother, only her text messages.

"I think that the language barrier brings up a lot in that case," said Lindenwood University Criminal Justice and Criminology Professor Darren Marhanka. "From the sounds of it, it's being reported by a third party to the law enforcement agencies as a whole, and they're acting on the information that they are getting from the third party and trying to use their best practices from that information because they don't have the ability to talk to an actual witness."

Marhanka said it's a complete and lengthy process before an Amber Alert is ever pushed out.

"What usually happens when an agency has to determine if there's an Amber Alert is that you know, they have to believe that a reasonably believe that there was an abduction that occurred and that there's going to be an imminent danger or the threat of imminent danger to the children. But, there are cases when adults become a part of that as either the abductor or maybe a victim in the case, kind of similar to what happened yesterday," the professor said.

Many have wondered if the MSHP followed the proper protocols when issuing the Amber Alert. So, 5 On Your Side asked Lt. Eric Brown of the MSHP's Public Information and Education Division that exact question.

"Absolutely," Brown said. "We rely on the information the investigating agency provides us. We issued the amber alerts they requested based on the information they provided, and we verified that they wanted the Amber Alert issued. And once they say yes, all the criteria have been met, we push that out to the public."

Brown shared some of MSHP's Amber Alert protocols:

  • No matter what agency is requesting an Amber Alert, they first must verify that the criteria have been met; that criterion is they must believe that an abduction has occurred, and it must meet the statute for kidnapping or child kidnapping.

  • They must believe there's a credible threat of serious injury or death to a victim or victims. If possible, there must be enough descriptive information on the victims and the suspect to issue the alert and have a successful location for the children.

  • A child must be 17 years of age or younger and entered as missing into the law enforcement computer system, including the National Crime Information Centers system.

  • Once they determine that the criteria have been met, they contact the patrol's Troop F headquarters in Jefferson City and request an Amber Alert be issued.

  • There's typically a conference call with the Amber Alert coordinator and his designee or both of them. They discuss the information that the agency to make a determination. If there's enough information available to issue the alert, verify that the investigative agency wants the Amber Alert to be issued. Once that's confirmed, they begin the process of activating the Amber Alert.

  • It is sent to the different systems that publish it to the wireless alerts to phones, send it to the broadcasters, and use other dissemination methods. Then, during that process, the Law Enforcement agency that has requested the Amber Alert be issued also completes some paperwork that's submitted directly to the troop headquarters.

Brown said the 22-year-old mom was included in the Amber Alert because "her children are missing. In this case, you know, she's also there possibly with the children, possibly not with the children. But to add in her information, it helps in locating her safely and assists in locating the children safely as well."

Marhanka agreed that MSHP and St. Charles County Police followed their protocols correctly.

"I think they did the right thing because they're always gonna want to err on the side of caution to prevent any kind of tragedy that could happen, because the other side is if they didn't put that Amber alert out and it went unchecked, that you could have a totally different outcome as a result," Marhanka said.

Brown said their priority in issuing an Amber Alert is to have a good outcome and make sure that children are safe. In this case, he feels this was the best possible outcome.

"That's the goal. Any time any person goes missing, especially when you're dealing with children, and the possibility of an abduction, the risk of serious injury or death, locating them safely is paramount, and it's the most important part of the investigation. 

"The important part of working together with other agencies, running the Amber Alert program, having the ability to issue those alerts not just in our state but the cooperation of other states, and issuing those alerts in their areas as well as frequently, especially when you live close to borders. It often involves, you know, more than one state or areas of travel where they could possibly go," he said.

The FBI Houston Corpus Christi Residence Agency briefly took over the investigation, but it is now back in the hands of the St. Charles County Police Department.

It's still unclear how or why the family ended up in Texas.

Police said they had no updates on the case as of Tuesday.

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