A 1-year-old girl who vanished from her Florida home for more than a month was finally found miles away in another state, inside a hotel room with a man authorities say her family did not know. The discovery ended a frantic search that began after the toddler disappeared in early December, but it also opened a new set of questions about how she was taken across state lines and why it took weeks for anyone outside her immediate circle to raise the alarm. Investigators now describe a case that sits at the intersection of family instability, interstate coordination, and the limits of child welfare oversight.
According to law enforcement, the child, identified as Anastasia Mason, is safe and back in state custody, while her mother faces a child neglect charge and her father remains under scrutiny. The man found in the hotel room with Anastasia has not been publicly identified, and officials say he had no known connection to her parents, Thomas Zachariah Mason and Jami, deepening the mystery around the weeks she spent missing.
The disappearance of a 1-year-old in Florida
Authorities in Florida say Anastasia Mason was reported missing after relatives realized they had not seen the 1-year-old for weeks and could not get clear answers about her whereabouts. Investigators later determined that Anastasia had last been seen with her parents, Thomas Zachariah Mason and Jami, in early December, when she was still believed to be in Florida. That gap between her last confirmed sighting and the formal missing child report became a central concern for investigators, who had to reconstruct several weeks of the family’s movements with limited documentation.
By the time the case reached wider public attention, Anastasia had already been gone for more than a month, and deputies were working from a fragmented timeline that relied heavily on interviews with relatives and acquaintances. The fact that she was last seen with both Thomas Zachariah Mason and Jami raised immediate questions about whether she had been intentionally concealed, rather than simply lost or abducted by a stranger. That suspicion shaped the early stages of the investigation, as detectives weighed the possibility that the parents themselves had taken Anastasia out of state or placed her with people who were unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement.
From Florida to rural Alabama
The search for Anastasia eventually led investigators across state lines to Alabama, where tips and digital traces suggested the family might have traveled after leaving Florida. Authorities say the trail pointed toward a small community near Uriah, a rural area that sits far from the Florida county where the girl was first reported missing. That distance, both geographic and jurisdictional, complicated the search, since local officers in each state had to coordinate information about a child who might be moving between motels, private homes, and back roads.
Investigators ultimately concluded that Anastasia had been taken out of Florida and into Alabama sometime after she was last seen with her parents, although the exact route and timing remain under review. The fact that a 1-year-old could cross a state border without triggering immediate alerts underscores how much child safety still depends on timely reporting from caregivers. In this case, the delay in notifying authorities meant that by the time law enforcement in Alabama became involved, Anastasia had already been in that state for an extended period, leaving officers to work backward through receipts, surveillance footage, and witness statements to locate her.
Discovery in a hotel room with an unknown man
The breakthrough came when officers tracked Anastasia to a hotel, where they found her in a room with a man who, according to investigators, had no known relationship to her or to her parents. Law enforcement officials say the toddler was located in a room at the hotel after they followed leads that connected the missing child report in Florida to lodging records in Alabama. Reporting indicates that the 1-year-old Florida girl, who had been missing since early December, was ultimately found in a hotel room in another state with a man her family did not recognize, a detail confirmed in coverage that described her discovery in Alabama.
Authorities have not publicly detailed how the man came to be with Anastasia or whether he is suspected of any crime, but they have emphasized that he was not an approved caregiver and was unknown to the wider family. That fact has fueled public concern about how the toddler moved from the custody of her parents to the control of a stranger in another state. For investigators, the hotel room scene is now a focal point: it is where they can gather physical evidence, review security footage, and question staff about who checked in, who paid, and whether anyone else was seen entering or leaving the room in the days before officers arrived.
Who are Anastasia’s parents?
At the center of the case are Anastasia’s parents, identified by authorities as Thomas Zachariah Mason and Jami, who were the last known adults to be seen with their daughter before she disappeared. Law enforcement records and subsequent reporting describe how the 1-year-old was last observed in their company in Florida, before any official report of her being missing was filed. Coverage of the case repeatedly notes that the 1-year-old Florida girl was last seen with Thomas Zachariah Mason, a detail that has shaped public understanding of their role.
Separate reporting identifies the child as Anastasia Mason and notes that she was reported missing in Dece, a truncated reference to December that appears in law enforcement summaries of the case. Those same accounts describe how Anastasia, referred to as Anastasia Mason and also as Anastasia Maso in some documents, became the subject of a multi-agency search after relatives raised concerns. The dual spellings of her surname in public records highlight how even basic identifying details can become muddled in fast-moving investigations, complicating efforts to track a child across jurisdictions and databases.
The search effort and interstate coordination
Once Anastasia was formally reported missing, the case quickly expanded beyond a single sheriff’s office, drawing in child welfare workers, neighboring agencies, and eventually law enforcement in Alabama. Officials in Florida described how they issued alerts and asked the public for help locating Anastasia, her mother, and her father, while also coordinating with out-of-state partners who might encounter the family on the road. One detailed account notes that authorities then found Anastasia with a man in Alabama after searching for her for more than a month, a sequence that underscores how the investigation evolved from local welfare checks to a broader interstate search, as described in coverage that framed the case as something the public NEED to KNOW.
Interstate cases like this one rely heavily on information sharing, and investigators have indicated that digital records, including phone data and hotel bookings, played a role in narrowing down Anastasia’s location. Reports emphasize that she was ultimately found in Alabama after going missing in Florida, with law enforcement in both states working together to verify sightings and follow up on tips. The description of a 1-year-old girl found in Alabama after she went missing in Florida captures the core challenge: once a child crosses a border, every delay in reporting or data sharing can add days or weeks to the search.
Mother arrested, neglect charge filed
After Anastasia was found safe, attention quickly turned to accountability, particularly around why she had been missing for so long without a clear explanation from her caregivers. Authorities in Florida announced that Anastasia’s mother had been arrested and would face a child neglect charge, a decision that reflected their view that the prolonged disappearance and the circumstances of the girl’s recovery met the threshold for criminal liability. Local reporting framed the development bluntly, noting that the missing 1-year-old was found safe and that the mother was arrested and set to face a Child Neglect Charge.
Officials have not publicly detailed every allegation contained in the neglect case, but the charge itself signals that investigators believe the mother failed to protect Anastasia from harm or failed to seek help when she could no longer account for her daughter’s safety. The arrest also sends a broader message about how seriously authorities treat prolonged unexplained absences of very young children, particularly when those children are later found in the company of unrelated adults. For child welfare advocates, the case illustrates how criminal law can intersect with protective services, with the same set of facts prompting both a neglect prosecution and a reassessment of custody arrangements for the child.
What we know about the father and another caregiver
While the mother now faces a criminal charge, the legal status of Anastasia’s father, Thomas Zachariah Mason, and another adult identified as Owens remains less clear. Reporting notes that both Mason and Owens were central figures in the search, with authorities initially asking the public for help locating Anastasia, Owens, or Mason as they tried to piece together the child’s last known movements. A local account of the case, which described the missing 1-year-old found safe and the mother’s arrest, also highlighted how officers had previously appealed for information that could help them locate Owens or Mason along with Anastasia.
Another detailed report states that Both Mason and Owens do not show up in the ECSO’s inmate records as of Jan, referring to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office database that tracks current detainees. That same account notes that it is not immediately clear if they have legal representation, underscoring how much about their current status remains unresolved. The reference to Both Mason and in connection with the ECSO records highlights a key gap: while the mother’s arrest is public and documented, any potential charges or detentions involving the father or Owens are, at least for now, unverified based on available sources.
Anastasia’s condition and care after rescue
When officers entered the hotel room and found Anastasia with the unknown man, their first priority was to assess her physical condition and get her medical attention. Reports indicate that she was taken to a hospital for evaluation and that, after being examined, she was released, suggesting that doctors did not find injuries requiring extended inpatient care. One account notes that after Anastasia was transported to a hospital, she had been released, a detail that appears in the same reporting that tracks whether Mason and Owens appear in ECSO records.
Beyond the immediate medical check, Anastasia’s longer term care is now in the hands of child protection authorities, who must decide where she will live while the criminal case against her mother moves forward. Reporting describes her as a 1-Year Old Florida Girl Found Miles Away After She Was Missing for More Than a Month, language that captures both the distance she traveled and the duration of her disappearance. That phrase appears in coverage that identifies her as Anastasia Mason and notes that she was reported missing in Dece, reinforcing how the case has become a touchstone in debates about how quickly authorities should intervene when very young children cannot be accounted for.
Public reaction and lingering questions
News that a 1-year-old had been missing for more than a month before being found in another state with an unrelated man has sparked intense public reaction, particularly in the community where Anastasia was first reported missing. Commenters have questioned how a child so young could be out of sight for so long without triggering earlier intervention, and why it took a relative’s concern, rather than a caregiver’s call, to bring law enforcement into the picture. Local coverage of the case, which included reader Responses under the headline Missing Year Old Found Safe, Mother Arrested And To Face Child Neglect Charge, captured some of that frustration, with one commenter identified as Susie weighing in on the developments in a thread that appeared on NorthEscambia.com.
What this case reveals about child protection gaps
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