A Florida girl was last seen on a bus with her mom in June. Now the mom is in jail as police investigate her disappearance
By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN
(CNN) — Gordon Terrelonge says it has been more than six months since he has seen or heard from his 10-year-old daughter, Gabrielle Terrelonge.
He lost touch with Gabrielle and her mom, Passha Davis, this past spring after a dispute with Davis in Kissimmee, Florida, but said he expected his family would eventually reunite.
However, when Terrelonge discovered in online jail records in late October that Davis had been arrested in the South Florida city of Margate, he contacted Margate police to ask who was caring for Gabrielle.
It was then, Gordon Terrelonge says, that he and police learned at the same time: Gabrielle was missing.
“My life has been hell,” Terrelonge told CNN this week. “This is the longest I’ve gone without seeing her.”
Gabrielle was not with Davis when the mom, after being accused of shoplifting, was arrested October 17, and Davis still was in a Broward County jail when Terrelonge called, police said. That call sparked an investigation by Florida police and the FBI, who are seeking the public’s help in finding Gabrielle.
As far as investigators know, the girl was last seen with Davis on June 30 taking a Greyhound bus from Broward County to Orlando, Margate police Maj. Al Banatte said. A witness on the bus saw them arrive at the Florida Mall, and “the manifest and tickets also corroborate this information,” Banatte said.
Davis, who was re-arrested this month in connection with Gabrielle’s disappearance, told police she doesn’t know where her daughter is and “that she should be with her father,” according to the arrest affidavit. But Margate police say Terrelonge last saw Gabrielle in Kissimmee in April – when investigators believe Davis left that city with the child – and that Terrelonge is cooperating with the investigation.
Gabrielle’s disappearance has left her family reeling and desperate for answers about her whereabouts.
“This is very devastating for me,” Gabrielle’s paternal grandmother, Jonett Vassel, told CNN over the phone as she hung flyers in Orlando with her granddaughter’s picture on them. “I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I’m fasting, I’m praying. I’m still trusting God, because I’m a Christian, so I’m trusting that he will bring her home.”
Police and court records paint a picture of an unstable living situation for both Davis and Gabrielle since last year.
Davis was homeless and suffered from “mental illness and substance abuse issues,” police said in her November arrest affidavit. Yet Gabrielle was in Davis’ care, and they moved from city to city in Florida last year and parts of this year, staying with family members, at hotels and even sleeping in a car, Margate police said.
Davis’ October arrest came after she was accused of shoplifting at a Dollar Tree in Margate. The store declined to prosecute, but police arrested her on charges of resisting a police officer without violence and providing false identification while being lawfully detained, records show.
She posted bail on October 31 but was re-arrested by Margate police on November 4 and charged with child neglect in Gabrielle’s disappearance.
Davis “failed to provide any reasonable explanation as to the whereabouts of her minor child” and “failed to provide adequate services and supervision necessary to maintain her physical and mental health,” police allege in a court document.
During Davis’ November 5 bond hearing in the child neglect case, a defense attorney told a Broward County judge that Davis had told him “she is innocent of these charges.”
“She’s wanting to fight these allegations,” the defense attorney said.
Davis is represented by the Broward County public defender’s office, court records show, and CNN has sought comment from that office. Davis is being held at a county jail with bond set at $100,000.
In an arraignment Monday relating to the first arrest, Davis told a judge she had mental illness. The judge ordered that Davis be evaluated for competency by November 26.
A rocky living situation
Gabrielle was last enrolled in school in Port St. Lucie, Florida, when she and Davis lived with Gabrielle’s paternal aunt there from April 2024 to November 2024, Banatte said. Sometime after Thanksgiving last year, Davis and Gabrielle left the aunt’s house for a Motel 6, Margate police said.
This March, they were found sleeping in a car in Broward County, Margate police said. The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) intervened and helped Davis and Gabrielle travel to Orlando, according to police.
CNN has reached out to DCF to inquire about the encounter, including why the agency helped them go to Orlando, whether DCF was aware of Gabrielle’s school enrollment status, and whether the state considered removing the child from Davis’ custody.
Between mid-March and April, Davis and the child were with Gordon Terrelonge in the Orlando and Kissimmee areas, Margate police said. But after the April dispute in Kissimmee, Terrelonge said, he never saw Gabrielle again.
A father’s desperate plea
Terrelonge described Gabrielle as a joyful child who is adventurous and loves nature, coloring, wearing princess costumes and having tea parties.
He said Gabrielle and Davis shared a close bond, and even when times were tough, Gabrielle preferred to be with her mother over anyone else. Terrelonge said his attempts to get full legal custody of Gabrielle were unsuccessful.
He said he had lost touch with Davis and Gabrielle in the past, but they would always find their way back to each other within a few months.
“She’s always in and out,” Terrelonge said of Davis. “But I always end up finding them.”
Terrelonge said he has followed all leads for possible places where Gabrielle could be. He said he wants to believe that Gabrielle is safe, but he worries that someone could have harmed her.
“If anyone knows anything, please come forward and let us know,” Terrelonge said. “You may save my child’s life.”
CNN’s Taylor Galgano and Lily Hautau contributed to this report.
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