Federal Jury Indicts Man Who Kidnapped 2 Round Rock Girls

ROUND ROCK, TX — A federal jury this week indicted the man accused of kidnapping two sisters from Rund Rock after the discovery of their dead mother in December, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.

Terry Allen Miles, 44, has been charged with two counts of kidnapping after taking the 14- and 7-year-old girls before police located the children unharmed in Colorado three days later. Miles was arrested at a traffic stop in La Vera, Colorado by deputies with the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office.

The children's mother, Tonya Ellen Bates was found dead inside her home on Dec. 30 after she failed to show up for work. According to the press release, the woman's body had signs of blunt force trauma. Miles hasn't been formally charged in her death as the investigation in her death continues.

Miles is now in federal custody, and faces 20 years to life in prison. His arraignment has yet to be scheduled.

The U.S. Attorney's Office notes that it was a text message to Miles' mother from one of the girls that set police on Miles' trail. At around 1 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2017, Miles' mother received a text message from a phone belonging to one of the girls, prompting the Round Rock Police Department to obtain cell phone records on the girls' two phones.

One of the cell phones subsequently was located in a heavily wooded area adjacent to a Round Rock Walmart store, according to the press release. Surveillance video from the store appeared to show Miles purchasing numerous camping-related items in a vehicle matching the description of the one the belonged to the dead woman. The vehicle and a cell phone belonging to one of the minors were then traced heading to Colorado, U.S. Attorney's Office officials said.

Among the law enforcement agencies conducting the investigation are the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service – Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and the Round Rock Police Department.

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