April 15, 2019 at 10:18PM
For a time before she died in 2017, Trinity University student Cayley Mandadi was in a car with the boyfriend later accused of killing her. Now Mandadi's mother is pushing legislators to create a statewide emergency alert for adults reported held against their will or in imminent danger.
Alison Steele, who lives in League City, believes that expanding Amber and Silver Alerts to include adults would help law enforcement locate victims of kidnapping, domestic violence and other crimes.
On Oct. 29, a friend reported to San Antonio Police that he was concerned about Mandadi after a disturbance at the Mala Luna Music Festival. About four hours later, Steele learned from Luling Police that Mandadi had been taken from an emergency room there to a hospital in Kyle. If an alert could have been issued in those hours, she believes, her daughter might have been saved.
"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 them, Rep. Toni Rose (D-Dallas) authored a similar bill in 2017 which 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 Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee hearing. "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 of alert would be issued using the same process. John Jones, Chief of the DPS Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Division told lawmakers criteria for the new alert would need to be developed, but 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.
On ExpressNews.com:Records give timeline of Cayley Mandadi's death
Mandadi, a communication student and cheerleader at Trinity, died Oct. 31, 2017 at Seton Medical Center Hays in Kyle. Two days earlier, her boyfriend, Mark Howerton, 22, brought her to a hospital in Luling, telling investigators she became unresponsive as he drove her to Houston after they stopped to have sex.
She was covered "from head to toe" with red marks, bruises and scratches, and had injuries that indicated a "physical and violent sexual assault," an arrest warrant affidavit later said. An autopsy found Mandadi had "numerous blunt force injuries" to her head, face and mouth, and a subdermal hematoma on her brain that caused swelling and herniation. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Howerton was charged with murder in February 2018. A Bexar County grand jury reindicted him last month and a trial is set for May.
Steele, who has made five trips to Austin so far to urge legislators to support the bill, first approached Bonnen about it last June. She said the alert could help respond 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."
On ExpressNews.com:Trinity officials say they didn't know student was repeatedly abused
Kahan, who has been working in victim advocacy for 27 years, 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 Garcia, 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
For a time before she died in 2017, Trinity University student Cayley Mandadi was in a car with the boyfriend later accused of killing her. Now Mandadi's mother is pushing legislators to create a statewide emergency alert for adults reported held against their will or in imminent danger.
Alison Steele, who lives in League City, believes that expanding Amber and Silver Alerts to include adults would help law enforcement locate victims of kidnapping, domestic violence and other crimes.
On Oct. 29, a friend reported to San Antonio Police that he was concerned about Mandadi after a disturbance at the Mala Luna Music Festival. About four hours later, Steele learned from Luling Police that Mandadi had been taken from an emergency room there to a hospital in Kyle. If an alert could have been issued in those hours, she believes, her daughter might have been saved.
"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 them, Rep. Toni Rose (D-Dallas) authored a similar bill in 2017 which 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 Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee hearing. "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 of alert would be issued using the same process. John Jones, Chief of the DPS Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Division told lawmakers criteria for the new alert would need to be developed, but 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.
On ExpressNews.com:Records give timeline of Cayley Mandadi's death
Mandadi, a communication student and cheerleader at Trinity, died Oct. 31, 2017 at Seton Medical Center Hays in Kyle. Two days earlier, her boyfriend, Mark Howerton, 22, brought her to a hospital in Luling, telling investigators she became unresponsive as he drove her to Houston after they stopped to have sex.
She was covered "from head to toe" with red marks, bruises and scratches, and had injuries that indicated a "physical and violent sexual assault," an arrest warrant affidavit later said. An autopsy found Mandadi had "numerous blunt force injuries" to her head, face and mouth, and a subdermal hematoma on her brain that caused swelling and herniation. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Howerton was charged with murder in February 2018. A Bexar County grand jury reindicted him last month and a trial is set for May.
Steele, who has made five trips to Austin so far to urge legislators to support the bill, first approached Bonnen about it last June. She said the alert could help respond 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."
On ExpressNews.com:Trinity officials say they didn't know student was repeatedly abused
Kahan, who has been working in victim advocacy for 27 years, 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 Garcia, 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