Police said the father of her unborn child is wanted on a murder charge after her body was found near Chimney Rock Road.
HOUSTON, TX — The body of a missing 23-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant was found Thursday in a southwest Houston park area, and police said the father of her unborn child has been charged with murder after a search that drew growing concern from relatives and volunteers.
Ashanti Allen’s death turned an urgent missing-person case into a homicide investigation after days of public appeals, volunteer searches and family pleas. Allen had been in the late stage of what relatives described as a high-risk pregnancy. Houston police said Thursday that Kevin Faux, 24, was charged in her death and was not in custody. The case now centers on how Allen disappeared, what happened in the days before her body was found, and when investigators will locate the suspect and present more details about the killing.
Allen was last seen leaving her apartment complex near the 8700 block of Main Street on April 8, according to search officials and local reports. She was reported missing April 10, after relatives said they could not reach her and became alarmed by a text sent from her phone around 3:50 a.m. that said she was leaving and not coming back. Her mother, Trisa Gaines Colbert, said that message did not sound like her daughter. When Colbert went to Allen’s apartment, she said, the home was quiet, Allen’s belongings and baby items were still inside, and the bag packed for the hospital had been left behind. The family’s white Lincoln MKX SUV, however, was missing, adding to fears that something had gone badly wrong.
In the days that followed, Texas EquuSearch joined the search and offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to Allen or her unborn child. Volunteers worked wooded areas, brush and open spaces near the neighborhood where she had lived. Relatives said Allen was especially vulnerable because she was near the end of her pregnancy and had been having trouble walking. Her mother said Allen had been using a wheelchair after passing out during the pregnancy. Investigators also reviewed surveillance video from the apartment complex that, according to her mother, showed Allen and another person leaving before she disappeared. By Thursday morning, police said the case had shifted sharply. Allen’s father told local television investigators used data from her cellphone after the phone was found at Edgewood Park. That data, he said, showed the phone had previously pinged near Chimney Rock Park, where officers ultimately found her body.
Police said the body was discovered about 9 a.m. Thursday near 11655 Chimney Rock Road, an address tied in public reports to Chimney Rock Park in southwest Houston. Authorities did not immediately release details on how Allen died, whether the unborn child survived long enough for separate medical findings, or what evidence led detectives to conclude that Faux should face a murder charge. Those questions remained unanswered Thursday night. What police did say was significant: detectives identified Faux as the father of Allen’s unborn child and charged him with murder. The announcement deepened the shock for a family that had been pleading for Allen’s safe return only a day earlier. Her father, Edward Allen, said after learning of her death that he felt numb from the phone call and was struggling to process the loss of both his daughter and the grandson she had been expecting.
The case drew intense attention in Houston because of Allen’s age, the late stage of her pregnancy and the signs her family said pointed to a disappearance that was out of character. Relatives said she was preparing for the birth, and her hospital bag, clothes and baby supplies were still in place when her mother entered the apartment. Search bulletins described Allen as 5-foot-1 and about 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her due date was said to be in May. Texas EquuSearch and local stations had aired repeated appeals that stressed how quickly the situation could become dangerous for a woman in a high-risk pregnancy. By the time search crews expanded their work this week, organizers were openly saying time was working against them. The body discovery confirmed those fears and turned what had been a rescue effort into a criminal investigation likely to unfold in court.
The procedural next steps were already taking shape Thursday. Houston police said Faux remained at large and asked for help finding him. A murder charge means investigators have taken their evidence to prosecutors and secured a formal allegation, but additional court records, an arrest affidavit and medical examiner findings had not yet been fully aired in public reports by late Thursday. Those documents may answer basic questions still hanging over the case, including when Allen was killed, where she died, whether she was moved after death, and what role the missing SUV may have played. Officers also had not publicly said whether anyone else could face charges, whether the vehicle had been recovered, or whether digital records beyond the cellphone data helped build the case. Once Faux is arrested, police and prosecutors are likely to provide a clearer timeline and a first fuller account of the evidence.
At the scene and in interviews, grief overtook the family’s earlier hope. Edward Allen told reporters that Ashanti was his baby girl and that she had been carrying his first grandson. Her loved ones had described her in earlier coverage as quiet, sweet and excited about becoming a mother. Those personal details gave the search a human center as volunteers combed fields and neighborhoods in southwest Houston. The contrast was stark by Thursday evening: where the family had once begged for a safe return, they were now speaking in the language of mourning. The park area off Chimney Rock Road became both a crime scene and the endpoint of a week of uncertainty that had spread through Houston television broadcasts, social media posts and volunteer search lines. Still, many of the most important facts remained under seal or undisclosed, leaving a community with a named suspect but an incomplete public account.
As of late Thursday, Allen was dead, Faux was charged with murder and still being sought, and investigators had not released a fuller narrative of what happened between her disappearance on April 8 and the discovery of her body on April 16. The next major milestone is the suspect’s arrest and the release of court documents laying out the case.
Author note: Last updated April 16, 2026.