Texas woman arrested, police say missing child 'didn't exist'

Lina Portman2 days ago

0 1 minute read

El Paso police were called to the scene after a woman called 911 Sunday saying her toddler was inside a vehicle that was believed to have been stolen. Police officials said the child turned out not to exist.

Stacie Dashay Marie Smith, 19, of East El Paso, was arrested on a charge of making a false report or false alarm following an investigation by detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit, which handles kidnappings and other major crimes.

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Smith is accused of fabricating the story of the imaginary missing child in order to get a faster response from police to find her friend's allegedly stolen vehicle, police officials said in a news release Monday (July 1).

The search for the child and the vehicle began around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, June 30, in the 14000 block of Lasso Rock Drive, near the intersection of Pebble Hills and Rich Beem boulevards on the Far East Side.

Police first received a call reporting a stolen vehicle. Smith then allegedly called 911 to report that her child was missing and that she suspected the child had been abducted by the person who stole her friend's vehicle, police said.

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After officers met with Smith and her friend, the vehicle was located after an “extensive search,” but the child was still missing, police said. Detectives from the Crimes Against Persons Unit were called in to assist with the investigation into the child's disappearance.

“The investigation revealed that the child did not exist and that Smith had provided a fictitious child's name so police could quickly locate her friend's vehicle,” police said in a statement.

Smith was arrested on a charge of making a false report or false alarm. She remained in custody Monday on $5,000 bail at the El Paso County Jail in downtown El Paso.

It is not known whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the vehicle seizure.

Lina Portman

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