Addiction is an unforgiving, heartbreaking disease. Those who suffer from it often bring the ones they love into their orbit of chaos. Although I am fortunate that no one in my immediate circle growing up dealt with addiction, I have seen firsthand both the seen and unseen impacts addiction can have on addicts and the people who love them. Even though it isn’t an “excuse,” you can’t help but wonder about what life would be like if addiction wasn’t present. At least that’s what I think about when I hear stories like Anastasia Mason’s.
The 1-year-old Florida girl went missing on December 2, 2025, and was last seen with her parents, Thomas Zachariah Mason and Jami Makala Owens, in Pensacola, People reported. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office originally offered very few facts in a news release shared on Facebook. Officials shared that they were searching for the girl but gave no details on what she was wearing or theories on her whereabouts. Yet miraculously, in an update on that release, the sheriff’s office reported she was safely found in Uriah, Alabama. They also revealed she was released to the Department of Children and Families.
The post showed what appears to be mugshots of the parents but did not share why they were arrested. WFLA stated that the sheriff’s office put out warrants against Owens for child abuse and one for petty theft. It went on to explain that search began when officials were called to a hotel to assist on the scene for a possible overdose in the lobby.
“In December, what happened was we got a call of an individual that was potentially suffering from an overdose,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons told the outlet. “We get there, and it’s actually the mother of the one-year-old.”
People reported that authorities found Anastasia with a man in a room at the hotel. In the room, police claimed there was “a quantity of narcotics.” WFLA went on to note that the police called Thomas Zachariah Mason to the scene to place the girl in safe hands as authorities sent the mother to the hospital.
“The mother was taken to the hospital for treatment, and so we did an affidavit for child abuse on the mother,” Simmons explained to the outlet. “We also contacted [The Department of Children and Families] on their hotline.”
The department’s investigation resulted in the organization requesting the child be taken into custody. While the warrants were being issued, however, authorities learned that Owens had been released from the hospital.
“We got the order probably the 7th or 8th of this month, and we’ve been looking for the mother, and/or the father, certainly looking for the child, and we’re not able to find the child, again, for this assessment through DCF,” Simmons said.
As of that point, the entire family was “missing,” and police began the search for them to get the child in for the requested assessment.
When Owens was found, she was in Alabama. She was detained in the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton and booked on an outstanding Escambia County, Alabama, warrant for bail jumping in the first-degree, according to NorthEscambia.com. She faces extradition back to Escambia County, Florida, on the child neglect charge and petty theft charge.
Anastasia was released to the custody of the Department of Children and Families, and the father was not charged with any crime.
