Mother arrested 2 years later in case of wandering 4-year-old

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Nearly two years after a woman was found awakened in her home, police say an arrest has been made. Her four-year-old son was left alone outside in the dark, crying with burrs on his feet in a busy area.

Jodi Pannell, 37, was charged with child abandonment and endangerment for the August 2022 incident.

The arrest warrant was issued a few days after the incident in 2022, but was not served until Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

In addition to that charge, she is being held without bail following a motion to revoke her probation for evidence tampering.

Late in the evening of August 19, 2022, an officer with the WFPD Gang Task Force reportedly saw a small blond boy with no shoes walking alone at the intersection of Avenue L and Taft.

According to the officer, the boy was crying and had burrs on his feet. When he told the boy he was a police officer and asked where his mother was, the boy pointed to a house on Taft Street and said, “She’s sleeping.”

Patrol officers were dispatched to find the mother, but they said no one responded to their knocking.

When officers knocked on another door, they said the door opened and they could see a woman sleeping on a sofa.

When they tried to wake her, she waved her hand and muttered, “Go to sleep.”

The officers then yelled at her until she woke up and asked where her son was.

She said she thought he was sleeping next to her, but she couldn’t say anything more about it.

Officers also spoke with a neighbor who said he had called the day before when the child was once again outside alone and that there had been numerous other occasions when he had been outside alone.

According to police, Pannell’s sister arrived at the scene and told police she had stopped by to check on her because she was using drugs.

In addition, a CPS officer arrived and informed officers that a case involving Pannell and the boy was currently under investigation.

The child was removed from the parental home and temporarily placed in the care of the sister.

Pannell was previously arrested in 2019 for possession of a controlled substance and placed on probation in 2021 for tampering with evidence.