Mum of missing Oklahoma toddlers who walked around town alone for hours tells cops 'they don't even matter'
TULSA, OKLAHOMA: A mother of two toddlers missing since Friday, May 22, reportedly told police that the children "don't even matter". The statement from Donisha Willis, who has been arrested, came as a new picture emerged of the children walking down the street on their own the day they disappeared in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Authorities believe that the toddlers, identified as two-year-old Tony, and three-year-old Miracle Crook, who continue to remain missing may have come to harm. Their mother, Willis, was promptly arrested for child endangerment and assaulting an officer. Authorities said that the mother was found passed out on her couch by officers and her front door was open, according to KJRH. Authorities have not yet declared an Amber Alert in the children's disappearance as it's not yet clear whether it is an abduction case.
Willis reportedly became verbally abusive to the officers after they questioned her about the children's whereabouts. Authorities revealed that Willis, who does not have legal custody of the toddlers, remained uncooperative throughout the investigation.
The latest image of the toddlers was taken from a security camera at The Shoreline Apartment where the mother lives. The image showed Tony and Miracle walking alone at 10.15 am on May 22, nearly two hours after they were previously pictured at Ryan's Mingo convenience store nearby.
Tulsa Police Department Chief Wendall Franklin, in a statement, said: "We are at our wits' end trying to find these children. The possibility exists that these children are harmed. There's only two things that can happen here. These children are either on someone's couch asleep, and the people that they're with don't know that these children are missing, or these children are dead."
The police chief also warned that the toddlers "cannot survive alone," and urged anyone with any information about the pair to contact the authorities. "There’s absolutely no way they could’ve survived 24 hours out here by themselves, so we need the public to help," Franklin added.
Shortly after the children's disappearance, Tulsa police initiated a massive search in and around the lake near the Shoreline Apartments and inside the complex. The department used helicopters, dive crews and dogs to search the area, but no leads have yet been found on their whereabouts.
The police chief said that the endeavor to look for the two children was like finding a needle in a haystack without any leads as he issued a desperate appeal to the public. Lieutenant John Adams, in a recent statement, said that the department was now searching through surveillance video for the missing children.
"We haven’t called this an Amber Alert yet, because we don’t have enough to call this an abduction, we are pushing it as far as we can because we know the kids are in danger," Adams said. "Our hope is someone saw them and took them in, and just hasn’t gotten around to calling police."
According to the neighbors' accounts, the children were behaving strangely before their disappearance. "She was walking down that way in the street with her shirt on," a neighbor identified as Shamon Armstrong said about Miracle
The children's mother continues to remain in custody, held on $50,000 bond. She is the only suspect in the disappearance.