Branson woman charged with child abandonment

A woman has been charged with abandoning her three children on a street in Hollister.

Twila Amanda Bell, 31, of Branson, was charged in relation to an incident that occurred Aug. 27.

Hollister Police responded to reports of a woman driving a white car “erratically” on Old Mill Road, Saturday around 6:34 p.m. according to a statement from the Hollister Police Department. A witness told police that Bell abandoned her three young children on Old Mill Road and left the scene according to the statement.

Officers later found a vehicle matching Bell’s car description in the parking lot of Downing View Park on Esplanade Street, and made contact with Bell who was later was arrested for suspicion of abandoning her children, as well as driving while intoxicated.

The children were found safe and have been placed with family, according to the statement.

According to a probable cause statement written by the Hollister Police Department and used to file charges in Taney County court, a witness saw a vehicle driving erratically on Old Mill Road. The driver drove into a ditch, but backed the car out and continued driving. The car also nearly hit the edge of a low-water bridge and went into a ditch again.

The witness told police that several minutes passed and then she saw a child get out of the passenger door and run over to the driver-side of the vehicle to get two other smaller children, ages 4 and 3. The vehicle then left the children behind at a high rate of speed. The witness said she approached the scared, crying children. The oldest child, who is 9, said their mother had kicked them out of the car and told them to go to a specific home belonging to someone they knew. The witness said the woman at that house said she had begged Bell not to drive off with the children because she should not drive. The witness said the woman at the house appeared to be intoxicated.

When police talked the Bell, according to the PC statement, she could not tell them how much she drank or what she drank, but that she had been drinking with the person she told the children to stay with.

The Missouri Division of Social Services was contacted after police found the friend who had the children was unconscious due to excessive alcohol consumption.

The Hollister Police Department asks residents with any information to contact the police department at 417-334-6565.

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