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Margaret Kay-Alana Turner is missing
Margaret Kay-Alana Turner, 28, has been missing for more than 300 days. Her family said she was possibly making her way to Austin before she went missing. Anglea Shen has the details.
AUSTIN, Texas - More than 300 days have passed since the family of a missing woman has heard from her. She was last seen in Harris County, possibly trying to make her way to Austin.
Margaret Kay-Alana Turner, 28, disappeared after running from a deputy, but her family says she was in a mental health crisis. She has been missing since March 10, 2023.
"You go back and forth between hope and despair. Your moment by moment. We choose to cling to hope, but there are moments of despair," Robby Calhoun, Kay-Alana's father said.
Margaret Kay-Alana Turner, 28, has been missing since March 10, 2023.
Her parents say the day before she disappeared, she was staying with a friend in Silsbee, but after that friend left for work, Kay-Alana appeared lost and confused.
She reached out to a friend in Austin and said she didn't know where she was.
"At some point she decided to go to Austin," Robby said. "So we believe she started going that direction and then got lost somewhere in the Tomball-Hockley area."
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After driving on Hwy 290, she eventually fell asleep in a stranger's driveway in Tomball. Her parents say she may have been having a bad reaction to PTSD medication.
"There had been a change to her medication from her doctor. She hadn't had any sleep in four days," Rosa Calhoun, Kay-Alana's mother, said.
When she woke up, she seemed disoriented.
"We feel like at that point she was probably suffering because of the fear and the medication, and she was in a cardiac event," Robby said.
Harris County deputies were called.
"The deputies tried to get her to open the door. She kept blocking the door, wouldn't let them in. One of them picked up a 2x4 and busted her window out," Robby said.
Kay-Alana's parents say she sped off through two pastures and multiple fences before crashing in the woods.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office says she has warrants for those actions.
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"We believe that being in a mental crisis is not a crime. It is not a crime. You need help," Rosa said. "The police didn't recognize that she was in a cardiac event. They didn't recognize that she was in the middle of a mental crisis, and they reacted in a hostile way."
After crashing the car, her parents say she got out and started running barefoot, leaving her phone and purse behind. She was last seen in a long hot pink dress. Her shoes were found by the car full of glass from the broken window. When she ran off, she crossed into Montgomery County.
We asked HCSO about the case, and they sent the following statement:
"The Harris County Sheriff’s Office continues the search for Margaret Kay-Alana Turner.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information concerning her whereabouts is encouraged to contact our Missing Persons Unit at 713-755-7427 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-8477.
The Turner Family and our investigators are in contact, and they have been updated on this case.
There were reported tips from the public of sightings of Ms. Turner, but none could be substantiated and were not credible.
We have reached out to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and continue to share information and intelligence with other law enforcement partners, in hopes of more people seeing the flyer and giving us good information.
Our priority is to locate her and ensure her safe return."
Kay-Alana's parents say there have been no sightings since March 10.
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Other search groups, including Texas Equusearch, have helped as well.
"If people are checking their property in that area, that would be a bad outcome if they found her at this point, but it would be an answer. We're prepared to receive that answer. We hope for better than that. We believe in our hearts, we believe she's alive. We don't know what her mental state might be after what she's been through," Robby said.
"We have a Kay-Alana sized hole in our hearts. There is nothing that will fill that hole. The only thing that will fill that hole is Kay-Alana. We will search for her until we find her, or we will search for her until we die," Rosa said.