ROUND ROCK, Texas — A day after a missing Round Rock woman with autism was found safe inside a parked car near her home following a multi-agency search, questions about her disappearance and whether an alert could have helped find her sooner have surfaced.
Tonia Henderson, 27, wandered from her home on East Old Settlers Boulevard and West Mesa Park Drive in Round Rock Friday afternoon.
"Tonia has gotten a little rambunctious and gotten out before, but she's never been gone long," her oldest sister, Cortney Henderson, told KVUE.
Within less than an hour, Cortney said police officers stormed the neighborhood to search for Tonia.
But as the sun went down, Tonia's family began to worry.
"She can't talk. She can't do for herself. She's not jumping over fences, [not] knowing to go into places where she can get warmth," Cortney said.
On Saturday morning, investigators with the Round Rock Police Department told the Henderson family they had enlisted the help of Texas Search and Rescue to find Tonia.
"Texas Search and Rescue came out deep with manpower, so they had people in the air, helicopters. They had boats in the water. They had multiple search dogs tracking her scent," Cortney said.
One of those dogs tracked Tonia's scent to a park not too far from the apartment complex she was staying at, according to Cortney, but the scent eventually vanished.
At that point, the family began fearing the worst.
"Who knows if somebody picked her up at this point and they're halfway to Mexico?" Cortney said. "It was just the scariest thing in my entire life and my family's entire life. I just wouldn't wish that on anybody."
On Sunday, investigators told the Henderson family the efforts by Texas Search and Rescue would come to an end, according to Cortney, but the family didn't want to stop searching.
"It was our thought - print flyers. Let's go door to door. Let's knock on these doors. Let's listen to see if we can hear anything. Let's make sure that anyone in this community knows what her face looks like so there's no stone left unturned," she said.
About 3:30 p.m. Sunday someone found Tonia inside a parked car about 20 feet from her home, according to Round Rock Police. She was safe but shivering.
"It was a beautiful and enlightening moment, like, 'My God, she's here. She's right here.' But then you're like, 'There's no way she's been here for the past 48 hours,'" Cortney said.
The family is still unsure of how Tonia got inside the car and how no one spotted her during the multi-agency search. But they wonder whether an alert would have helped find her any sooner.
"We were certainly just, like, 'Why hasn't an AMBER Alert gone out? We need to tell the whole state of Texas,'" Cortney said.
In Texas, an AMBER Alert is issued for missing children who have been abducted and are in danger.
A Silver Alert is issued for people over the age of 65 who have a documented medical condition.
An Endangered Missing Persons Alert is issued for missing people with intellectual disabilities, which is the only alert that could have applied in Tonia's case.
But a Round Rock Police spokesperson sent KVUE a statement to explain why the department chose, in this case, not to issue one:
"RRPD investigators had reason to believe Tonia’s location was confined to a short distance from where she was last seen. We did not have information leading us to believe there was an abduction or that she was traveling somewhere by car. Rather than issue a statewide alert, we focused our outreach efforts locally, including news media, social media, flyers, reverse 911 calls and door-to-door canvassing. The City of Round Rock also sent out push alerts to residents via Facebook. The multi-agency search effort was documented in our last press release."
In addition to Texas Search and Rescue, the Round Rock Police Department enlisted the help of an Austin Police helicopter; a Williamson County drone; Round Rock, Georgetown and Cedar Park fire departments; Round Rock Emergency Management; Williamson County Emergency Services and multiple K9 units, including one from the Hutto Police Department.