Police on Tuesday were searching for the two missing daughters of a woman found dead in her home in Texas over the weekend.
Police on Tuesday were searching for the two missing daughters of a woman found dead in her home in Texas over the weekend.
Police found Tonya Bates, 44, dead in her home Sunday after conducting a welfare check, according to Round Rock Police Department Chief Allen Banks.
Bates' death was "of a suspicious nature," Banks said at a Monday news conference. During their investigation officers found that her daughters, Lilianais Griffith, 14, and Luluvioletta Bandera-Magret, 7, were missing, he said. The two girls lived with their mother.
Authorities are looking for Bates' roommate — 44-year-old Terry Allen Miles — as a suspect in connection with the abduction.
Miles is also a person of interest in Bates' suspicious death, police said.
He is 6-foot-2, weighs around 200 pounds and wears glasses and has a beard, according to an Amber Alert issued for the girls by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
"At this point we believe that the two daughters are in the presence of Terry Allen Miles," Banks said.
Miles might be en route to Louisiana in a gray 2017 Hyundai Accent with Texas license plate number JGH9845, according to a press release from the Round Rock Police Department on Sunday.
Lilianais is described as 5-feet tall and 100 pounds, with dirty brown to brown hair, brown eyes and a right nose stud earring, according to the Amber Alert. Luluvioletta is describe as 4-foot-5 and 75 pounds, with brown curly hair that is blonde on top.
"Our whole focus is to get these girls home safe," Banks said.
Authorities do not have a motive on the incident, he said.
Banks added that from what authorities currently know, Mile was "just a roommate" to the girls' mother and there was "no relationship that we know of between him and Tonya."
Bates' body was taken to a medical examiner and an autopsy will be performed, Banks said.