VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Thursday marked one month since a 3-year-old was reported missing in North Carolina.
Just last week, Virginia State Police issued a missing endangered child alert for Samalea Daniels.
Investigators believe the little girl was last seen at her grandmother’s house in Virginia Beach. In an update from Virginia Beach police on July 25, the grey 2011 Ford Escape that police believe Samalea was traveling in with her mother, Tianna Mila Daniels, was found over the weekend in Virginia Beach.
Police would provide an exact location for where the car was found in the city at this time, but did confirm there was no one in the vehicle.
There has been lots of he said, she said in this case, but what is important is that the family members of the mother, Tianna Daniels, insist Samalea is not endangered.
Virginia Beach Police and VSP have put out missing person reports for the child’s safe return.
It appears the father, Jalen Davis, who has custody of the child, was last with his daughter on Father’s Day, June 18.
He said the biological mother, Tianna Daniels then took off with Samalea the following day.
Jalen Davis told 10 On Your Side that he would follow Tianna from North Carolina to Virginia Beach, and said he saw her going into Tianna’s grandmother’s home on Stonington Court.
He called police, and when they showed up, Daniels and Samalea were gone.
“Tianna and Jalen’s relationship is toxic,” said Daniels’ grandmother, Greer Long. “They should never have been together. As a couple, they tried and tried to be a family, but it never worked. Sometimes, it’s best to go your separate ways.”
10 On Your Side asked Davis about whether he really thinks his child is in extreme danger, as noted in the messages from police.
“The police at first used extreme danger,” Davis said. “I wish they would still use that because that would give the go ahead for the Amber Alert, but right now, they do not think it meets the criteria for an Amber Alert. They changed it to endangered. Either way, it’s been dragged out a long time.”
It was at the home on Stonington Court where Daniels and Samalea were last seen.
Long remembered when Davis and the officer came to the door.
“It was one officer and Jalen was with her,” Long said. “I didn’t let them in. They wanted to know if Somalea was there, and I said no. Last time I saw Tianna was when I took her to court.”
That was a court hearing dealing with this issue.
The mother (Daniels) and the father were to appear in court July 14, but she left before court was to begin, and Virginia Beach issued a missing child report.
“She was supposed to get served on that Friday with an affidavit to give me my child,” Davis said, “and for her to get remanded, but by her leaving before she actually had a chance to go into the courtroom, it pretty much set in motion everything else that has happened.”
Long and other family members insist 3-year-old Samalea is not in danger, or extreme danger or at-risk.
“No, she is not in danger at all,” Long said.
Why are they putting out there that she is extreme danger when she is in the company of her mother?
“I have no idea,” Long said. “That’s their side to this.”
The problem is that Daniels disappeared from a court hearing, and she’s been in court before.
According to Norfolk court documents, she is on a deferred disposition for assault and battery on a family member until next April, when the charge could be dropped on good behavior.
This incident doesn’t help her cause.
“She has a tendency to make rash decisions and none of them make sense,” Davis said. “When she took my daughter, she had no reason to.”
It is clear from Daniels’ family members that the relationship she had with Davis is very toxic on both sides.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.