Little Girl Walks Alone on Dark Texas Highway; Parents Face Charges

MIDLAND, TEXAS—Officers found a lonely little girl heading Northbound on Rankin Highway at 6:26 a.m. last Thursday after receiving reports of a child walking along the service road. Morning traffic was building up, and it was still dark outside. The temperature was only around 50 degrees.

She told police she was walking to Pease Magnet Elementary School after her father refused to give her a ride. She couldn't tell police where she lived, and it seemed she wasn't sure how to get to school, given where she was discovered.

Police determined she had been walking for roughly 45 minutes from a Best Western on East Interstate 20. A Google Maps search indicated it would take one hour and 33 minutes to get to school on foot from where she was found, but only one hour and 31 minutes on foot from the hotel, indicating she was likely lost.

The little girl told police it was her first time walking to school and that her father usually gave her a ride. She also indicated she was nearly hit by a car while crossing the street near Walmart. Investigators believe she tried to walk more than four miles by herself on that cold, dark morning and that doing so put her in 'imminent danger.'

The child's parents, 23-year-old Ta'Lyjak Monea Conner and 27-year-old Devonte Tremayne Hall, were arrested and charged with second-degree child endangerment. The couple appear to have bonded out as they are no longer listed as being held at the Midland County Detention Center.