Mother of abandoned 1-year-old boy arrested on outstanding warrant after being reported missing

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The mother of a 1-year-old boy who was found alone outside a southwest Houston apartment building earlier this week is now in custody.

The Harris County Jail shows 33-year-old Dana McGowan in custody on Friday morning for a warrant for DUI involving a child.

This happened hours after she was reported missing by police.

HPD released a photo of McGowan on Thursday when detectives were trying to find her. They said she was reported missing on July 7 after family members were unable to reach her.

The search for McGowan began after her 1-year-old son was found all by himself outside The Onyx apartment complex on Tuesday, wandering around in the heat in nothing but a diaper.

Now, police have questions about exactly how this happened.

The baby’s father came forward to police, but HPD said they don’t believe he knew the baby was abandoned.

McGowan has a criminal record in Harris County. In January, she was arrested for DUI with a child under 15 years old and had a warrant out for her arrest.

Records show the child was 6 months old at the time, so it’s possible the incident involved the now-1-year-old boy

There was growing concern over McGowan’s whereabouts because no one had heard from her. One neighbor told she saw McGowan looking panicked the same day the baby was found.

“I saw that girl walking up and down the street full of sweat,” Tacorya Robinson, who knows McGowan and saw her the same day she went missing, said. “She was looking back and forth and scared. I called her name. I said, ‘Dana!’ She looked at me and she got scared. She took off walking.”

The 1-year-old is OK and is now in CPS care. A relative and the baby’s father have both requested custody of the child.

A judge will make the custody decision.