Reward offered in search for missing eight-month pregnant Houston woman

Texas EquuSearch has posted a $5,000 reward as it joins the search for Ashanti Allen, a 23-year-old Houston woman who was eight months pregnant and considered high risk. Allen was last seen April 8 leaving her home in the 8700 block of Main Street, and she was reported missing two days later.

The search has focused on a white Lincoln MKX SUV believed to be Allen’s vehicle. Her mother, Trisa Gaines Colbert, said Allen sent a text on April 10 that said, “I’m leaving and never coming back,” before Colbert went to the apartment and found no one answering and the family car gone. Colbert said Allen’s clothes and the baby’s clothes were still inside the apartment, raising fresh concerns about how quickly she disappeared and what she had with her when she left.

Investigators said it remains unclear what Allen was wearing when she vanished. Colbert also said apartment surveillance video showed Allen and another person leaving the complex before her disappearance, a detail that has become central as searchers try to reconstruct her movements in the hours before she was reported missing.

Texas EquuSearch said Allen’s case is especially urgent because she had been using a wheelchair after recently passing out during the pregnancy and was having trouble walking. That medical condition, combined with her eight-month pregnancy, has made her disappearance a high-priority missing-person case for both the Houston Police Department and volunteer searchers.

The organization’s involvement carries added weight in Texas. Founded in August 2000 by Tim Miller after the 1984 abduction and murder of his daughter, Laura Miller, Texas EquuSearch has built its reputation on working with families and law enforcement in cases that are most likely to turn desperate quickly. In Allen’s case, the group said the goal is to move fast, verify credible leads and push attention toward facts that can help locate her safely.

Anyone with information about Allen’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Houston Police Department at 832-394-1840 or Texas EquuSearch at 281-309-9500. Officials are asking the public to report verified sightings or details about the white Lincoln MKX SUV directly to investigators rather than spread unconfirmed tips online, where bad information can slow the search.