Woman In Custody Accused Of Hiding In Woods With Her Child During Freezing Temperatures To Avoid Arrest

Tulsa County Deputies arrested a Kansas woman they say hid in the woods with her 5-month-old baby for 35 hours, in freezing temperatures, to avoid being arrested.

Deputies say Tiffany Jones ran from them at high speeds, two days before, but she got away.

Deputies say Jones was driving up to 80 miles an hour during the pursuit and started driving on private property, through fields so they decided to stop the chase.

They didn't know where she went until a man called two days later saying his gate had been rammed and that led them to find her on the man's property.

"They are both covered in scratches, they are cold. Tiffany is not wearing shoes; she has what appears to be frostbite on her feet,” said Casey Roebuck with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies say it started Friday night when a deputy was driving red lights and sirens to a burglary call and noticed Jones driving right on his tail. They say Jones took off and got away.

The next morning, deputies went to look for her, but no luck. Sunday morning, deputies got a call from a man saying someone rammed through his gate and he had $4,000 in damage. Deputies found Jones' car with a phone and baby items inside on the man’s property, then located Jones and the baby in the woods.

"There were multiple opportunities during this time for her to seek shelter, either go back to the car, call for help, there were deer stands on the property, but during this time, even when the deputies were searching the area, she remained hidden with her baby and put the baby in danger,” said Roebuck.

Before they found Jones, deputies used Jones' phone to call her dad, who said he hadn't heard from her in two days and said she had no reason to be in Tulsa. He said Jones was going supposed to be on a road trip to New Mexico.

"We are all parents, and I think we are all scratching our heads as to why this happened. What parent would remain in the cold exposing their five-month-old little baby to the elements,” said Roebuck. "I am relieved we were able to search and locate them before this story had a much more tragic ending."

Records show Jones was arrested in Arkansas in 2021 for stealing a truck and running from deputies, driving 100 miles an hour. A judge later determined she was incompetent to stand trial.

Jones' baby is now living with Jones' parents.