The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued charges on March 31 against two suspects — Ashley Collins and Kayla Williams — for falsely reporting a fabricated missing child.

Collins, 29, of the 8900 block of New Hampshire Avenue in Affton, was charged with misusing “911” and making a false report, while Williams, 31, of the same address, was charged with making a false report. Both women are being held on a $10,000, cash-only, no 10% bond.

Charges are merely an accusation. Both Collins and Williams are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

According to police, Collins called 911 the morning of March 30, stating that her car — a 2020 Jeep Renegade — was stolen with a child inside the car. She described the child as a 5-year-old female wearing blue jeans and a “flower power” shirt.  An Amber Alert was promptly issued.

While being interviewed by police, Collins stated that she was a temporary guardian of the child and that the child has been living with her and her girlfriend, Williams, for a few weeks. Collins told police that she placed the child in the backseat and went back into her apartment for a short time, before Williams went outside and found the car and the child gone. Instead of calling 911, Collins drove Williams to work using Williams’ car. Collins then called her bank to see if they could locate her car using GPS as the bank was financing the car. She “eventually” called 911, though an exact timeline of events was not given.

Police were eventually able to locate the stolen vehicle about a mile away from the apartment. An extensive search was conducted to locate the missing child using helicopter surveillance, drone surveillance and K9 search teams. 

Approximately five hours after the initial 911 call, both Collins and Williams confessed that the car had been stolen but they fabricated that there was a missing child. 

The St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Crimes Against Persons detectives are handling this investigation.