Sinister connection to missing woman last seen leaving Texas bikini bar
Deundrea Ford, 21, was last seen around 1 a.m. when she left Diva's Bikini Sports Bar in Houston, where she worked
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Texas mom of a young child, who's been missing for over a week, was a key witness in a capital murder case, according to local reports.
Deundrea Ford, 21, was last seen alive leaving her job as a dancer in Houston's Diva's Bikini Sports Bar & Grill around 1 a.m. on Sept. 21, a day before one of the suspect's in the murder case was formally indicted.
There were documented threats against Ford's life, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in June against Jarrell Travon Wheeler, who's one of four suspects in the fatal shooting of Otis Parker in May.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Bro, that h-o ain't save (sic) in Houston … at all," one of the suspects allegedly texted another on May 18, referring to Ford, the affidavit says.
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Deundrea Ford, 21, went missing after leaving a Texas bar on Sept. 21, 2023. (Deundrea Ford/Facebook)
Ford was in the front passenger seat of Otis Parker's car around 4:30 a.m. on May 18 when gunshots rang out, according to the probable cause affidavit.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bullets "barely" missed Ford, who managed to escape out of the back passenger side unharmed, but Parker was shot dead at the scene.
Fast forward to last week on Sept. 21, when Ford mysteriously disappeared. It was a day before Wheeler was formally indicted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She was last seen getting into a white van after working in the Houston bar. It's unknown who was driving the van.
Deundrea Ford, a mom of a young child, has been missing for over a week and is reportedly a witness in a capital murder case (Deundrea Ford/Facebook)
Ford's uncle, Kevin Carriere, told Fox 26 Houston that his niece started working at the bar as a dancer only a few weeks earlier.
He saw the bar's surveillance video himself and says it shows Ford and a customer sitting in the van for a little over an hour before driving off in a direction where the club doesn't have cameras, the local news outlet reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WILD BODYCAM FOOTAGE OF FUGITIVE DARING COPS TO SHOOT HIM BEFORE HIGH-SPEED CHASE
"We were able to see her interact with what looks to be a Hispanic individual," Carriere told ABC 13. "He was buying her drinks. There were other females inside the establishment interacting with him, who seemed to have known him.
"Then, there is footage of them sitting in the van for maybe an hour, or so, before he just leaves."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Law enforcement hasn't released that security footage, as of Saturday afternoon.
Deundrea Ford, 21, was last seen leaving Diva's Bikini Sports Bar & Grill in Houston, where she worked as a dancer, before she seemingly vanished (Google Street View)
Family members aren't sure if her disappearance and her involvement as a witness in the murder case are connected, and police said they're following every lead.
Meanwhile, Ford's family is begging for her safe return.
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Her grandmother, Bridgette Carriere, told ABC 13. it's not like Ford to suddenly disappear without talking to her family and leaving her four-year-old son
"I just hope she's alive," she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Deundrea Ford, 21, was last seen leaving Divas Diva's Bikini Sports Bar & Grill, where she worked as a dancer, before she seemingly vanished (Deundrea Ford/Facebook)
Send tips to police
Ford's family continues to search for the 21-year-old woman.
"Let her come home to her family and her 4-year-old son," Bridgette told Fox 26 Houston as a plea to her possible captor(s).
"Just don't continue to try to hold her, or if you're making her do anything out the way...just let her go."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS
Houston police asked anyone with tips or information about Ford's whereabouts to call the Houston Police Patrol at 713-884-3131 or Houston Police Missing Persons Division at 832-394-1840.
Ford is 5’4'' and weighs about 170 pounds, according to missing persons flyers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Missing persons flyer for Deundrea Ford, a 21-year-old mom of a young child (Houston Police Department)
Why was Otis Parker shot?
The alleged ambush that killed Parker stemmed from a feud between him and Quitiana Taylor, who's one of the suspects in the capital murder case.
Parker brought Ford and Taylor to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to work as dancers and prostitutes, and allegedly didn't give Taylor the $1,500 that she made during the week-long trip, according to court documents.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Taylor allegedly plotted the robbery with her boyfriend Jamal "BAM" Brown, who is the alleged gunman, along with Wheeler and his girlfriend Mariah Green, according to the affidavit.