April 16, 2019 at 10:19AM
Cayley Mandadi's friends knew that her boyfriend had abused her before, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, and one of them was concerned enough to call San Antonio police on a fall night in 2017 after seeing them argue at the Mala Luna Music Festival and leave together.
It wasn't enough of a tip for police to search for the couple. Mandadi's mother, Allison Steele, believes that the Trinity University student might be alive today if an alert could have been issued immediately, the way Amber and Silver alerts light up Texans' phones.
Instead, the boyfriend, Mark Howerton, then 22, brought Steele's daughter to an emergency room in Luling, badly beaten and unconscious, on the night of Oct. 29, 2017. Mandadi, 19, never regained consciousness and was taken off life support days later at a hospital in Kyle. Howerton is awaiting trial on a murder charge.
Steele, who lives in League City, now is pushing lawmakers to create a statewide emergency alert for adults reported held against their will or in imminent danger, to help law enforcement locate victims of kidnapping, domestic violence and other crimes.
"It became obvious to me that there was a huge gap in our system, both legislatively and functionally," Steele said.
House Bill 1769, authored by Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, and four Dallas and Houston-area representatives, would fill that gap by giving officials the discretion to issue an alert for any missing adult believed to be in imminent danger or whose disappearance is believed to be involuntary.
One of the bill's joint authors, Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, authored a similar bill in 2017. It passed out of committee but did not make it to a House vote.
"The technology exists. This system is already up and functioning," Bonnen said last week at a hearing of the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. "It does have the opportunity to save the lives of Texans."
The Department of Public Safety State Operations Center issues Amber Alerts for abducted children, Silver Alerts for missing senior citizens with documented mental conditions, Blue Alerts for suspects accused of killing or seriously injuring a law enforcement officer, and Endangered Missing Persons Alerts for people with documented intellectual disabilities or developmental disorders.
The proposed new category would be issued using the same process. John Jones, chief of the DPS Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Division told lawmakers that criteria for the new alert would need to be developed but that the department already has the capability to execute it.
"The Cayleys of the world deserve whatever we can do to hopefully prevent a tragedy," said Andy Kahan, director of Victim Services and Advocacy for Crimestoppers of Houston, who Steele has worked with on the bill.
Howerton told investigators that Mandadi, a sophomore communications major and cheerleader at Trinity, became unresponsive as they drove to Houston after stopping at a Valero gas station in Bexar County to have sex. He was charged five months later. A grand jury in Bexar County re-indicted him last month, and a trial is set for May.
Mandadi was covered "from head to toe" with red marks, bruises and scratches, and she had injuries that indicated a "physical and violent sexual assault," the warrant said. An autopsy found that she had "numerous blunt force injuries" to her head, face and mouth, along with a subdural hematoma on her brain that caused swelling and herniation.
On ExpressNews.com:Trinity officials say they didn't know student was repeatedly abused
Steele, who has made five trips to Austin to urge legislators to support the bill, first approached Bonnen about it last June. She said the alert could help in responding to abductions that have a known suspect or vehicle.
"The very fact that we have no adult alert implies that adults don't really get kidnapped," Steele told legislators last week. "It suggests that something, maybe magical, happens around age 18 that suddenly eliminates or at least reduces that risk. And of course, that simply isn't true."
Kahan, who has been working in victim advocacy for 27 years, said it "just makes total common sense" to give law enforcement the discretion to "activate an alert and enlist the public's help."
Beth Alberts, CEO of Texas Center for the Missing, dismissed concerns that the alert would be overused or that it would dilute the strength of existing alerts.
"I have always been against anything that kind of waters down the Amber Alert," she said, but only six Amber Alerts were issued in the Houston area in the past year, and an adult alert would be used just as judiciously, she said.
Kahan said Mandadi may be the "catalyst case" needed to help get the law enacted, adding, "Sometimes it takes a tragedy for good, common-sense public policy."
Steele said she "really started to falter" a few months into her efforts, then heard of another teenager allegedly killed by her boyfriend: Erin Castro, 19, who was stabbed and run over on Camp Bullis Road on Sept. 2. The boyfriend, Josh Garcia, has been charged with murder.
On ExpressNews.com:San Antonio mother speaks out about daughter's death, allegedly at the hands of abusive boyfriend
Like Mandadi, Castro was in a car with the boyfriend, her mother told police. Steele said the story "went through me like an electric shock … like God tapping me on the shoulder, telling me, 'You need to get off your butt, get off the couch and do something.'"
HB 1769 was recommended last week to the Local & Consent Calendars Committee, which typically sets the agenda for uncontested bills.
LTeitz@express-news.net
Cayley Mandadi's friends knew that her boyfriend had abused her before, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, and one of them was concerned enough to call San Antonio police on a fall night in 2017 after seeing them argue at the Mala Luna Music Festival and leave together.
It wasn't enough of a tip for police to search for the couple. Mandadi's mother, Allison Steele, believes that the Trinity University student might be alive today if an alert could have been issued immediately, the way Amber and Silver alerts light up Texans' phones.
Instead, the boyfriend, Mark Howerton, then 22, brought Steele's daughter to an emergency room in Luling, badly beaten and unconscious, on the night of Oct. 29, 2017. Mandadi, 19, never regained consciousness and was taken off life support days later at a hospital in Kyle. Howerton is awaiting trial on a murder charge.
Steele, who lives in League City, now is pushing lawmakers to create a statewide emergency alert for adults reported held against their will or in imminent danger, to help law enforcement locate victims of kidnapping, domestic violence and other crimes.
"It became obvious to me that there was a huge gap in our system, both legislatively and functionally," Steele said.
House Bill 1769, authored by Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, and four Dallas and Houston-area representatives, would fill that gap by giving officials the discretion to issue an alert for any missing adult believed to be in imminent danger or whose disappearance is believed to be involuntary.
One of the bill's joint authors, Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, authored a similar bill in 2017. It passed out of committee but did not make it to a House vote.
"The technology exists. This system is already up and functioning," Bonnen said last week at a hearing of the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. "It does have the opportunity to save the lives of Texans."
The Department of Public Safety State Operations Center issues Amber Alerts for abducted children, Silver Alerts for missing senior citizens with documented mental conditions, Blue Alerts for suspects accused of killing or seriously injuring a law enforcement officer, and Endangered Missing Persons Alerts for people with documented intellectual disabilities or developmental disorders.
The proposed new category would be issued using the same process. John Jones, chief of the DPS Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Division told lawmakers that criteria for the new alert would need to be developed but that the department already has the capability to execute it.
"The Cayleys of the world deserve whatever we can do to hopefully prevent a tragedy," said Andy Kahan, director of Victim Services and Advocacy for Crimestoppers of Houston, who Steele has worked with on the bill.
Howerton told investigators that Mandadi, a sophomore communications major and cheerleader at Trinity, became unresponsive as they drove to Houston after stopping at a Valero gas station in Bexar County to have sex. He was charged five months later. A grand jury in Bexar County re-indicted him last month, and a trial is set for May.
Mandadi was covered "from head to toe" with red marks, bruises and scratches, and she had injuries that indicated a "physical and violent sexual assault," the warrant said. An autopsy found that she had "numerous blunt force injuries" to her head, face and mouth, along with a subdural hematoma on her brain that caused swelling and herniation.
On ExpressNews.com:Trinity officials say they didn't know student was repeatedly abused
Steele, who has made five trips to Austin to urge legislators to support the bill, first approached Bonnen about it last June. She said the alert could help in responding to abductions that have a known suspect or vehicle.
"The very fact that we have no adult alert implies that adults don't really get kidnapped," Steele told legislators last week. "It suggests that something, maybe magical, happens around age 18 that suddenly eliminates or at least reduces that risk. And of course, that simply isn't true."
Kahan, who has been working in victim advocacy for 27 years, said it "just makes total common sense" to give law enforcement the discretion to "activate an alert and enlist the public's help."
Beth Alberts, CEO of Texas Center for the Missing, dismissed concerns that the alert would be overused or that it would dilute the strength of existing alerts.
"I have always been against anything that kind of waters down the Amber Alert," she said, but only six Amber Alerts were issued in the Houston area in the past year, and an adult alert would be used just as judiciously, she said.
Kahan said Mandadi may be the "catalyst case" needed to help get the law enacted, adding, "Sometimes it takes a tragedy for good, common-sense public policy."
Steele said she "really started to falter" a few months into her efforts, then heard of another teenager allegedly killed by her boyfriend: Erin Castro, 19, who was stabbed and run over on Camp Bullis Road on Sept. 2. The boyfriend, Josh Garcia, has been charged with murder.
On ExpressNews.com:San Antonio mother speaks out about daughter's death, allegedly at the hands of abusive boyfriend
Like Mandadi, Castro was in a car with the boyfriend, her mother told police. Steele said the story "went through me like an electric shock … like God tapping me on the shoulder, telling me, 'You need to get off your butt, get off the couch and do something.'"
HB 1769 was recommended last week to the Local & Consent Calendars Committee, which typically sets the agenda for uncontested bills.
LTeitz@express-news.net