need to know
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1-year-old girl missing in Florida more than a month found in Alabama
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Anastasia Mason was reported missing on December 2
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Her mother, Jami Makala Owens, has been arrested, police said
A 1-year-old girl has been found after missing for more than a month in Florida.
Anastasia Mason was reported missing on December 2. She was last seen in Pensacola with her father, Thomas Zachariah Mason, and mother, Jami Makala Owens, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office (ECSO) said in a news release shared on Facebook.
In an update on Thursday, January 15, ECSO announced that Anastasia is “safely located” in Uriah, Alabama. No other details about her disappearance and discovery were released.
ECSO confirmed Owens, 30, was arrested after the 1-year-old was found, but police did not disclose what she was charged with. WFLA reports that she previously faced two outstanding warrants for child abuse and petty theft.
ECSO shared a photo of Owens in its Facebook post along with a photo of Mason, 36, though it’s unclear if he also was arrested and faces charges. Neither Mason nor Owens appeared in ECSO inmate records as of Jan. 17, and it was unclear whether they had legal representation to comment on their behalf.
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Jami Owens
In December, police entered a hotel and found Owens “acting strangely in the lobby” and were “unable” to find her daughter because she may have overdosed, North Escambia and WFLA reported, citing ECSO.
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons told WFLA: “We received a call about a man who may have overdosed. When we arrived, we found out he was actually the mother of the one-year-old.”
Authorities later found Anastasia in a hotel room with a man. Police said there was a “quantity of drugs” inside.
Owens was taken to the hospital, during which time Anastasia disappeared. North Escambia reports that police believe Thomas, who shares custody of the child with Owens, may have taken her. (It is unclear whether the man found in the hotel room was Thomas or someone else.)
Police later completed a warrant for Owens’ arrest, but she had been released when they arrived at the hospital, according to Escambia North.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) then launched an investigation because both Anastasia and her parents were missing, WFLA reported.
Before Anastasia was eventually found, Sheriff Simmons told the media: “We believe there is a possibility that the child is still with the father, but frankly, we don’t know where the child is at this time and we really want the child to be evaluated.”
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Thomas Zachariah Mason.
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ECSO did not respond to PEOPLE’s Jan. 17 request for comment.
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