Welcome to Mysteries of the Missing, a podcast and blog about missing person's cases. You can find my podcast, my blog, and my social media pages on my Linktree at: https://linktr.ee/MysteriesoftheMissing.
Keep in mind that I am only reporting the events of what have happened, per my research through various media outlets. I’m not trained in any way in true crime. Instead, I'm a published author who loves to blog. Also, I’m solely a human being that’s trying to do my part to get the message of the story of DeUndrea Ford out there so that one day, hopefully, she may be found, and her case may be solved. Join me as I dive into the last day that people saw DeUndrea and what happened after she was last seen.
DeUndrea Lakelsia Ford was born on the Southeast side of Houston. Today, she is 22, and she has been missing from Houston, Texas since September 21, 2023. I spoke with her uncle, Kevin. He described DeUndrea as energetic, fun loving, caring, charismatic, a people person, a good friend, a great listener, very attentive, ambitious, goal-oriented, very driven, and motivated. Also, Kevin says that "half of what DeUndrea does is to take care of her son." I'm sure her four year old is missing his mom a lot. DeUndrea's grandmother, Bridgette, stated that DeUndrea is a kind person who will do anything for anyone, as well as a loving mother. According to family, she had a smile that can light up a room. Kevin says that DeUndrea was working to set aside money to better herself.
Side note: This episode hits close to home because I'm from Baytown, which is close to the area that DeUndrea went missing from. I would drive in this area on at least a monthly basis, on the very same highway that she was last seen near.
Houston is a highly violent city. Though there has been a 22 percent decrease in shootings in the first seven months of 2023 (compared to the same time in 2022), there were 210 murders from January to August. Of all the crime that Houston has seen in 2023, robberies make up 10%, aggravated assaults about 8%, and human trafficking 7%. Kidnappings have gone up to about 9% and so have sexual assaults (about 5 and a half percent). Growing up in Houston, you knew not to open your car door at night if you were driving downtown or in any area close to the city. In addition, if you were in certain parts of the city (like where I grew up in Baytown, which is also on the Southeast side), you knew to be extra careful. In fact, the Texas Killing Fields are located within the area that DeUndrea went missing from, and Houston is labeled as the top human trafficking city in the country by Yahoo, who used information from the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the U.S. Census Bureau to create their report.
Wikipedia states the following: "The main factors that contribute to high levels of trafficking in Houston can be divided into transportation, demographic, and labor factors. The I-10 corridor links El Paso and Houston, and thus allows easy transportation of many of the trafficking victims entering from Latin America. This has made it one of the biggest human trafficking routes in the United States. Additionally, Houston is a popular entryway for internationally trafficked persons due to its two large, international airports and the Port of Houston, which is the largest international port in the United States and the thirteenth busiest in the world. Furthermore, Houston's thriving economy has created a huge market for laborers in industries like textiles, agriculture, restaurants, construction, and domestic work. This vast diversity of industries has made it difficult for law enforcement to effectively concentrate on ending human trafficking in any one labor sector. The high frequency of large sporting events, conventions, and other festivities bring in visitors from around the nation, stimulating the growth of Houston's sex industry, and making Houston a prime location for trafficking."
Thus, one can see that Houston is not the safest place to live or travel to or through. But it's home -- many people stay because they love it. Houston has a strong community feel to it, and the pride runs deep there.
On the evening of September 21, 2023, DeUndrea was working at her new job, Diva's Bikini Sports Bar and Grille in the Northshore/Jacinto City area of Houston, Texas (address: 11927 East Freeway Houston, TX). This is the Southeast side of Houston, which isn't the best area. This location has four connecting highways: Highway 90, I-10 (which goes all the way to Los Angelos), Beltway 8 (which runs toward one of the two airports in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental), and 610, which stretches across Houston's entirety. This means many people would have been traveling this area on the night that DeUndrea went missing -- it is a well traveled, highly populated location. Houston itself has a population of 2,264,876 people as of 2023. It's not a small town by any means, but I don't know if you know anything about Texans, but again, our pride goes deep. Whether you're related by blood or not, if you're a Texan, you take care of each other. Or, at least, you're told to do so.
Shifting gears back to DeUndrea's case in particular: The fact that DeUndrea has a young child tells me she most likely didn't go missing on her own accord. If she was living with her grandmother and with her child, yes, her grandmother could've taken care of her child, but also, she was holding a steady job. Granted, DeUndrea had only been working at Diva's for two weeks, but that's longer than a day. People don't just leave their steady job or kid, unless something else is going on.
DeUndrea had been staying with a friend for a week before she disappeared. At 10 p.m. on September 21, 2023, DeUndrea was dropped off at work by a friend and another friend would be picking her up after work. That night, a Hispanic man lavished DeUndrea with drinks. DeUndrea called a ride to come take her home. At 1-1:20 am, DeUndrea left Diva's with the man that she was connecting with (that no one at Diva's recognized, apparently) and got into his white GMC Savana 3-door van. Around 2 a.m (when she was in the van), she tried unsuccessfully to call a friend, who was asleep. When the friend eventually returned the call the next morning, all of her calls just rang and rang then went to voicemail. At 2:30 a.m, the man in the van drove off without head or tail lights on. No one exited the van. This means that DeUndrea was still in the van when the man drove off...and she was in the van with him for over an hour before he drove off. Was she safe in the van during that hour or was he harming her? It scares me to the core to think about this situation.
When DeUndrea was unsuccessful at getting a ride from her friend at 2 a.m, did this Diva's patron offer to take her home? If so, what happened to her afterward? Why would DeUndrea call her friend at 2 a.m. from the van she had gotten into with this patron? Was she afraid or was something happening and she was reaching out for help?
The manager of Diva's stated to the police that he had advised his workers never to go home with any men from the bar.
The next day, September 22, 2023, Bridgette reported her granddaughter missing. She told Dateline that it is unlike DeUndrea to go anywhere without contacting her and that she thinks her granddaughter would not go missing by choice. The family was able to go back to Diva's, view the footage, and due to cell data, they were able to go to the house of the man in the van whom DeUndrea went with. When DeUndrea's family knocked on the door, no one answered. Strange. DeUndrea's cell phone was tracked to the man's home as the last location before the phone's location was turned off. (Side note: The phone itself hasn't been turned off. When the family calls DeUndrea, her phone rings until it goes to voicemail. Only the location is turned off, which prevented police from tracking her location after the location of the home. This makes me think that either DeUndrea could be at this home still, or she left after the phone's location was turned off. To my knowledge, the home has not been searched yet).
The police came to the house after the family told them that no one answered at the last place DeUndrea was found and they spoke with the family that lived there. The family who lives at the home stated that they didn't know anyone was knocking on their door.
After she went missing, the police and the family searched the area around the club but nothing was found. Kevin was able to determine which direction the van with the man and DeUndrea were traveling in using home surveillance on different homes/security systems outside homes.
Neighbors said they didn't see anything because of the time of night but the family surveyed the home security systems to see which direction and time the van was traveling in. After the van traveled so far, there were no more houses in the area, so the surveillance stopped.
Something else was going on in DeUndrea's life before she disappeared:
On May 18, 2023, one of four suspects (Jarrell Travon Wheeler) was charged in the murder of 35-year-old Otis Parker. Jarrell's accomplices were Mariah Green, Quitiana Taylor, and Jamal Brown (aka "BAM"). What does that have to do with DeUndrea? Well, she may have been a potential victim alongside Otis. Both Otis and DeUndrea were set to be robbed by Mariah, Quitiana, Jamal, and Jarrell for a sum of $1,500. The detectives on the case discovered that Quitiana and Jamal were not only going to rob and kill Otis, but Jamal said via text that DeUndrea needed to go, too. As DeUndrea was sleeping in a car that was returning from Louisiana, having worked as a dancer alongside Quitiana for a week, she heard gun shots ring out. Otis was killed and DeUndrea managed to escape by getting out of the car through the back passenger side door. Scary. On June 30, 2023, a judge issued a no contact order between DeUndrea and the defendents. The whole story carries a resemblance to a movie...only it's all real.
As Jamal Brown was being arrested, he was shot and killed by detectives in a shoot out. He had been on the run from cops after the shooting took place.
As for the shooting that DeUndrea survived, police say it is not connected to her disappearance.
Going back to the case at hand:
Unfortunately, Kevin and the rest of the family haven't gotten many updates from the Houston Police Department in regards to DeUndrea's case. The police did inform the family that the suspect/person of interest (the driver of the van that DeUndrea got into before she disappeared) was detained out of state. The police at that location took his van and cell phone as evidence, which they're currently processing. The police are not releasing the location of where they found the man or where he is to the family or the public. They're also not releasing his name yet.
Kevin says that the family has been doing 80% of the leg work to try to get the word about DeUndrea out there. Currently, DeUndrea's uncle is working on getting Sheila Jackson Lee and a Houston Council Woman as well as the Assistant Chief of Police to work on the case. In addition, Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch, the New Black Panther Party, congressional members, and private investigators are working on the case. (Now, I didn't find DeUndrea's case on Equusearch's website, but that doesn't mean they aren't helping with her case.)
No sightings of DeUndrea have been reported to the HPD or the family as of yet.
DeUndrea is 5’4”, 170 lbs., and has brown eyes and black hair. She has a floral Tattoo sleeve on the right arm and an upper forward facing tattoo on her right shoulder, a large rose tattoo on her right thigh, a roman numeral tattoo on her forearm, and a hand tattoo near her thumb along with other tattoos. She was last seen wearing a black tank top and tan pants.
DeUndrea: If you're out there, your family is looking for you. I'm sure your son misses you. You are not forgotten, and you are so important to so many people. You matter. I hope that we find you, or that you are some place safe.
Anyone with information on Ford's whereabouts may contact the Houston Police Patrol at 713-884-3131 or the Houston Police Missing Persons Division at 832-394-1840, or you may email me at mysteriesofthemissing2023@gmail.com. Also, DeUndrea's Uncle Kevin says you may reach out to him with any information at 346-628-3868. You can email the family with any tips at finddeundrea@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page for DeUndrea's case by looking for her name on the app/website: DeUndrea Ford.
What do you think happened to DeUndrea? Let me know by reaching out. Please find me on Facebook, Instagram, X, Tiktok, and Wix, and don't forget to like, save, share, follow, and rate on each platform, so we can get the message of DeUndrea's story out there. You can also see pictures and maps on my Wix website by visiting my Linktree. That's https://linktr.ee/MysteriesoftheMissing.
This has been another episode of Mysteries of the Missing.
Until next time, stay safe.
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