ALYSSA MORENO and AYANA TORRES - 6 and 2 yo - Lubbock TX

Police found two missing girls, and a man wanted for questioning in
connection to a homicide investigation, after the girls’ mother was found
dead Sunday in a Central Lubbock house.
Amanda Moreno, who police said is either 26 or 27, was found dead in a
Lubbock home following a reported call of a suicide Sunday afternoon in
the 2300 block of 15th Street, said Lubbock police Cpt. Greg Stevens.
Police were searching for her two daughters — 2-year-old Ayana Torres
and 6-year-old Alyssa Moreno — and requested state authorities issue an
Amber Alert.



Stevens said police also were searching for Torres’ biological
father, Anthony Lee Torres, 35, in connection with the children’s
disappearance and the mother’s death.
Anthony Torres and the girls — who were unharmed — were found in
Amanda Moreno’s 2002 silver Ford Explorer about 7 p.m. in Canyon Lakes
park in the 2800 block of Cesar E. Chavez Drive, Stevens said.
Investigators had been concerned for the girls’ lives, with Stevens
describing the girls as being in “a dangerous situation.”
“This is a compelling situation — we need to find those kids,” he said.
Police confiscated the Ford Explorer as evidence and were questioning
Torres on Sunday evening.
Police plan to release more information Sunday evening, Stevens said.

Police found two missing girls and arrested a man wanted for
questioning in connection to a homicide investigation after the girls'
mother was found dead Sunday in a Central Lubbock house.
Amanda Moreno, 27, was found dead by a family member in a Lubbock
home about 3:15 p.m. Sunday in the 2300 block of 15th Street, said
Lubbock police Capt. Greg Stevens.
By 7 p.m., police had found 2-year-old Ayana Torres and 6-year-old
Alyssa Moreno following a nearly four-hour search of Lubbock County that
led investigators to issue a nationwide Amber Alert.



The girls were found with Torres's biological father, 35-year-old
Anthony Lee Torres, whom police also were searching for in connection
with the children's disappearance and the mother's death.
Torres and the girls - who were unharmed - were found in Amanda
Moreno's 2002 silver Ford Explorer at 6:55 p.m. by a Lubbock police
officer in Canyon Lakes park in the 2800 block of Cesar E. Chavez Drive,
Stevens said.
Investigators, who were tipped off by the family members that the
children were missing, had been concerned for the girls' lives, with
Stevens, describing the girls as being in "a dangerous situation."
"This is a compelling situation. We need to find those kids," he said.
Stevens said it took nearly two hours for state officials to issue
the Amber Alert, which went out just minutes before the girls were found.
"You'd like it to be a little quicker system," he said. " ...Even
while applying for the Amber Alert, our folks are already out all over
the county."
Police confiscated the Ford Explorer as evidence, arrested Torres,
and were questioning him on Sunday evening. He remained in a Lubbock
police holding facility late Sunday, though charges against him weren't
immediately available, according to police.
Initial reports to police indicated Moreno's death may have been a
suicide, according to police, but Stevens said investigators believed
there was enough evidence to investigate Moreno's death as a homicide.
Neighbors in the 2300 block of 15th Street said they heard what
sounded like fighting Saturday night inside the home where Moreno and
Torres lived.

Authorities charged Anthony Lee Torres with the murder of the mother
of his child, who was found dead in a Central Lubbock home on Sunday
afternoon.
Police Capt. Greg Stevens said other charges are pending against
Torres, 35, in connection with the kidnapping of Amanda Moreno’s two
young children. A nationwide Amber Alert was issued.
Moreno, 27, was found dead in the 2300 block of 15th Street, and her
2-year-old and 6-year-old girls were gone. The 2-year-old child is
Torres’ biological daughter, according to police.
A Lubbock police officer found Torres and the two girls unharmed
about four hours later in the Canyon Lakes Park, 2800 block of Cesar E.
Chavez Drive. They were in Moreno’s vehicle.
Torres, 35, was booked into the Lubbock Police Department’s detention
facility late Sunday on the murder charge, according to police
officials.
He hadn’t been booked into the Lubbock County Jail as of 7:30 a.m.
today, according to online records.

The Lubbock man accused of killing his
girlfriend over the weekend has a history of domestic violence.
Anthony Lee Torres, 35, is in the Lubbock
County Jail charged with the murder of Amanda Moreno, 27.
Torres recently served prison time for felony theft, and was currently on parole.
Police responded to a 911 call at 2306 15th
Street Sunday afternoon, where they found Moreno's body. Both Moreno and
Torres lived at the house, but were not married.
Police issued an Amber Alert for two of
Moreno's children. Moments later, a patrolman arrested Torres, after
spotting him driving Moreno's car with the two children inside.
Lieutenant Neal Barron says additional
charges are possible. "There certainly could be more charges filed in
this case. We just have to work together with the district attorney's
office and see what charges could come fourth, obviously there were
numerous laws that were violated."
Neighbors report that they've seen Torres and
Moreno get into disagreements before. "About two weeks ago they got into an
argument and he loaded and packed up stuff in suitcases and said, 'Hey
will you give me a ride to a friend's house, we had a fight?' I said
sure. So we loaded stuff into my truck and he went back inside and 10
minutes later said 'I think I'm gonna stay,'" neighbor Travis Gardner said.
An autopsy to determine the exact time and cause
of death is scheduled for Tuesday morning.