ROUND ROCK, Texas — Two sisters taken from their Round Rock home before the new year have been found safe in Colorado.
Authorities found the missing 7-year-old and 14-year-old*, in a car in Trinidad, Colorado, around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Driving the car was their suspected kidnapper, Terry Allen Miles.
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Miles, 44, is now in custody with charges pending, according to Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks.
Both children are safe and were taken to a nearby hospital. Child Protective Services in Texas and Colorado will be working together to reunite them with family, according to Banks.
Trinidad authorities spotted Miles' car, a gray 2017 Hyundai Accent, after an Amber Alert was issued for the two girls in Colorado on Wednesday.
An Amber Alert was initially issued in Texas after the girls were declared missing on Sunday. Tips helped trace the girls and Miles to Colorado and surveillance footage captured Miles at a store in Trinidad on Dec. 30.
The search began after Round Rock police were called out to a home in the 2600 block of Leslie Court on Sunday to do a welfare check. Police found the body of 44-year-old Tonya Bates, the girls' mother, in the home.
Miles was named as a person on interest in Bates' death and was initially believed to have taken the girls. He was also Bates' roommate.
Earlier in the week, a lieutenant at the Calcisieu Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana confirmed that Miles had an extensive criminal history in Louisiana, and that some of the charges included domestic violence, burglary, DWI and battery.
The investigation into the girls' abduction and Bates' death is ongoing. The Round Rock Police Department will be sending two detectives to Colorado to assist with the case on Thursday.
Updates will be added to this story as they become available.
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*Photos and names of the girls have been removed as a form of protection. We air these things initially when the child/children are actively being searched for, and it's important for their names and faces to be out there. Once they are found, they are considered victims. For any questions, please reach out to txnewsdesk@charter.com.
