Police are searching for a mother who left her son and daughter aged three and 12 alone in the family’s Texas home for two months – who were only found when they asked their dad in California to send them food.
A warrant was issued for the children’s mother, 31-year-old Roman Forest Resident Raven Yates, on Friday, who is on the run after the kids’ concerned father called cops on November 14 to report he had not seen them since September 28.
Concerned the children were left at his ex’s home alone, the father, a music producer who lives in California, told cops he had been ordering food to the house for the children when family members told him Yates had been spotted alone in Mobile, Alabama.
Police in the small town of 1,700 – set thirty miles northeast of Houston – descended on the residence and the children’s father flew out to Texas as well.
Upon entering the home, cops found the kids alive – despite being holed up in a house with very little food for nearly eight weeks.
Yates – who in 2018 was featured on Fox’s Fugitive Files for attempting to slash a repo man with a box cutter – is thought to still be somewhere in Mobile, police said Friday.
A warrant was issued for the children’s mother, 31-year-old Raven Yates, on Friday, after the kids’ father called cops on November 14 to report he had not seen them since September 28
The kids survived for two months in this house 30 miles from Houston with no food on the shelves or in the fridge – something police credited to the older sibling
Yates is charged with two counts of abandoning/endangering a child without the intent to return, cops confirmed.
Their statement added that officers from Roman Forest Police Department had been cooperating with cops in Alabama to try to make an arrest.
Police added that the two children are safe with their maternal grandmother in Alabama.
Investigators added that Yates left the house in late September, after which the kids were left to fend for themselves. Neither of the children were registered in school.
‘No food in the house, everything was empty,’ Chief Stephen Carlisle said over the weekend of the conditions the kids were left in. ‘There were some dry beans and spices. That was it.’
Currently a fugitive from the law, Yates – who in 2018 was featured on Fox’s Fugitive Files for attempting to slash a repo man with a box cutter – is thought to still be somewhere in her Mobile, police said Friday upon announcing their ongoing search
Somehow, Carlisle said, even with no food on the shelves or in the fridge, the kids appeared healthy – something the police chief said was thanks to the older sibling.
‘I guess the 12-year-old was very resourceful,’ Carlisle said. ‘But she shouldn’t have had to do that.’
The chief added that apart from the refrigerator and cabinets being empty, with officers also noticing a ‘heavy urine odor coming from the 3-year-old’s bed.’
‘A 12-year-old cannot take care of a 3-year-old for a long period of time, especially over a month and a half,’ Carlisle said, decrying Yates’ alleged treatment of the youngsters.
‘It’s dangerous and irresponsible of a parent. Without medical supplies or ways to get food, that’s very dangerous.’
Now facing two counts of felony child endangerment that could see her put behind bars for 20 years, Yates is still nowhere to be found, and is being pursued as a fugitive – the second time she has been in a matter of years
Cops added that the 12-year-old, when reaching out to her father for food, told him that Yates was busy working.
Police also revealed that the two children have different fathers – with Yates reportedly threatening the 12-year-old by saying the girl’s father would take her and leave her brother alone if she told anyone the truth.
Now facing two counts of felony child endangerment that could see her put behind bars for 20 years, Yates is still nowhere to be found, and is being pursued as a fugitive – the second time she has been in a matter of years.
In 2018, Yates was featured on ‘Fugitive Files’ after she attempted to slash a repo man with a box cutter when he tried to repossess her car in her native Mobile, assaulting him with a rubber mallet and fire extinguisher in the process.
Yates fled before MPD could make an arrest, but a traffic charge in Texas soon saw her extradited and charged in Alabama.
Despite now facing charges decidedly more serious, the 31-year-old mom was seen active on social media in recent days, showing off her figure in suggestive posts published while the kids were alone, scared, in her two-story house.
Despite now facing charges decidedly more serious, the 31-year-old mom was seen active on social media in recent days, showing off her figure in suggestive posts published while the kids were alone, scared, in her two-story house
Posts over the past several months saw the mom make no mention of her kids, with Yates instead using her platform to show off various outfits including lingerie. Her kids, meanwhile, were starving and trying to survive, cops said.
On Friday, police revealed Yates and the kids moved to Texas about a year ago, during which time the kids were not enrolled in school.
What’s more, weeks before Yates left her children alone, cops said the mom reported that a third, 14-year-old child had run away from the residence. Police said the child somehow was able to make it to their grandmother’s house as well.
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