Authorities are looking for a missing five-year-old girl after her Oklahoma mom allegedly admitted to giving her away in exchange for drugs two years ago.
Ashley Rowland, 39, was arrested and charged with child abandonment last week after allegedly coming clean about the disappearance of her daughter, who hasn’t been seen since 2022, KOCO reported, per the New York Post.
Cops were alerted to the case after the Oklahoma Department of Human Services was asked to pick up the girl in April 2023 but couldn’t find her.
When they did finally track her down, the mom at her Moore home initially claimed the girl was with her father in Georgia, authorities said.
However, investigators recently questioned the mom once more after Child Protective Services realized she had lied about the missing girl, who has not been otherwise identified, police said.
The mom then allegedly confessed to giving the then two-year-old away to a man named “Carlos” when she was buying meth from him.
Rowland said the man may have been the child’s father but she couldn’t be sure — and that she believed he was going to Mexico at the time, cops allege.
Police are actively searching for the girl, who would now be five years old, but they are unsure if she is still alive.
The Department of Human Services said they couldn’t comment on the investigation but described the ordeal as “heartbreaking and unimaginable.”
Rowland is being held at the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a $3,000 bond.