Woman Arrested After Bixby Child Reported Missing

A Bixby woman is jailed on a complaint of stealing her own child.

Bixby police said Karissa Ford was arrested by U.S. Marshals after a five-day search.

Bixby Police Detective Jan Francis said the woman took the child from the custodial grandparents without their permission.

"It's my understanding the mother is allowed to come to the house. She is not allowed to take the child. After 24 hours, when the child wasn't brought back to the guardians, that's when they decided to report the child missing,” Francis said.

U.S. Marshals tracked the woman down and arrested her near Eufaula.

"There were many, many officers working around the clock as we were searching for this child and this fugitive" said Deputy Marshal Emily Maddox. "The ultimate goal was to recover the child safely. Through the cooperation of several state local and federal agencies, we were able to do that successfully.

Marshals found Karissa Ford in Eufaula late Wednesday. Her daughter was not hurt, but police considered the child in danger because Ford has a history of drug crimes, and an outstanding warrant.

Though many times when a child is missing an Amber Alert is issued - in this case - the child had already been missing for a day when authorities were called, and their information was that the mother had taken the child to Arkansas.

"At a certain point, she was aware law enforcement was looking for her and she made no effort to turn herself in or return the child, until we arrested her. She was fully cooperative when we did locate her," Maddox said.

Ford is in the Tulsa jail on an outstanding drug warrant and now faces a new complaint of child stealing.