Amber Alert canceled; cops say "missing child" a hoax

GALVESTON, Texas -- A 27-year-old Galveston woman is facing charges after police say she made up a story about a missing baby that led to an Amber Alert being issued Friday morning, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.

Mikeshia Taylor has been arrested and charged with false report, a state jail felony. Police say she told authorities her cousins had stolen her car and taken a six-month-old baby she was babysitting for late Thursday.

Several local police departments and the FBI launched an extensive search and an Amber Alert was issued. But after interviewing Taylor, police say they discovered several inconsistencies in her story and contradictory evidence.

Police now believe she made up the story about the missing child - which they say doesn't exist - in an attempt to get her car back.

Police had released a description of the "stolen" car and the names of three female suspects who Taylor had described as her cousins. Taylor said the cousins had taken the car, her cellphone, her purse and the child.

As investigators were beginning to question her story, two of the "suspects" called police to say they didn't have any child, and that Taylor had let them borrow her car Thursday night.

Police now believe Taylor was never babysitting any child, and also made up the existence of the child's mother, who she said was working.

Police say she confessed to lying "to get my car back."

Taylor was being booked at the Galveston County Jail under an $80,000 bond.