MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- The Midland Police Department arrested two people earlier this month after a young girl was found walking alone on a busy street in the early morning hours. Ta’Lyjah Monea Conner, 23, and Devonte Tremayne Hall, 27, have both been charged with endangering a child, a second-degree felony.
According to police, officers were dispatched to the 200 block of West I-20 around 6:26 a.m. on March 6 after a caller reported seeing a young girl walking alone along the service road. Minutes later, another call reported that the child was heading northbound on Rankin Highway.
Officers responded to the scene and found the child near the 1600 block of Rankin Highway, where traffic was beginning to build up and the road condition was still dark. The officers then parked their vehicle at a nearby Kent Kwik and went to contact the child.
Upon contact, the child told police she was on her way to Pease Magnet Elementary School. Police reported that the child was cold and frightened, so they put her in the police car to warm up and provided her with food and water while gathering information.
The child told police that her father, Hall, typically drove her to school but refused to take her that morning. Police determined she had been walking for approximately 45 minutes before being located.
(According to Google maps, the road where the child was found, Rankin Hwy, Midland, TX, to Pease Magnet Elementary School, would take a one hour and 33 minute walk. From the residence, the walk would be one hour and 31 minutes.)
Reports stated that the child told police it was her first time walking to school and, when asked, could not tell officers where she lived. Given the direction of where she was walking, police believed she did not know where she was going. The child also mentioned that she had nearly been hit by a vehicle while crossing a street near Walmart.
During the investigation, authorities learned that Hall and Conner were responsible for the child’s care while staying at the Best Western on East Interstate 20. Investigators believe the child attempted to walk more than four miles to school on her own in the dark, putting her in imminent danger.
Following a forensic interview at the Midland Children’s Advocacy Center, police arrested Hall and Conner at the Midland Police Department. Both were booked into the Midland County Detention Center and face charges of Abandoning/Endangering a Child with Imminent Danger, a second-degree felony.
Their bail is unknown, as they no longer appear on the Midland County Currently Held Detainees page and have since been bonded out.
