Texas mum accused of abandoning her 2 young children for 6 weeks to attend out-of-town funeral

Thursday, May 7, 2026 - A Texas mother has been declared wanted for abandoning her two young children in an unkempt home for six weeks and sending them meals remotely.

Rayshawna Deanna Dowdell, 34, allegedly left her 11-year-old child to take care of her 6-year-old sister for over a month at their disheveled home in Katy without proper food, according to Harris County court documents obtained by The Post.

A concerned woman reported to police in late March that the kids were staying with her after they confided in her at a neighborhood park that their mother had been gone for an “extended” period, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Investigators learned the children were abandoned in the home between Feb 17 and March 30 — with the 11-year-old girl being tasked with caring for her younger sibling, including preparing her for school and finding food, court documents alleged.

The alleged absentee mother continued to communicate with her children remotely, including sending meals through Uber Eats, according to a motion for sufficient bail.

Text messages sent by the 11-year-old showed she expressed “distress, fear, lack of food, and inability to continue caring for her sibling,” documents said.

The home where the two girls had been fending for themselves was “cluttered, unkempt, and lacked available food,” police wrote, noting a back door to the property was also unlocked.

Dowdell admitted to deputies that she was out of town for a funeral, though there was no digital evidence that she told her daughters when she’d come back home, court documents charged.

Child Protective Services placed the two children with their aunt, but the arrangement crumbled when Dowdell allegedly got into a physical altercation with her children’s new caregiver, documents added.

She then allegedly snatched the youngsters and did not offer information about their whereabouts, and evaded welfare checks, the affidavit continued.

The two girls were later found out of state in Ohio, investigators noted.

As of Wednesday, Dowdell remains on the run, court records show.

Prosecutors have already set her bail at $50,000 on a felony charge of abandoning a child without the intention to return.