Tried To Sell My Car, Person Took It And Disappeared

first of all, i’m aware i’m dumb. i’m 20, she’s like almost 40 with four kids and gave me this whole sob story and i needed to sell my car anyways. thought it would be fine to do payments because we worked together, but she “had to move” because her ex was after her (allegedly). was smart enough to not give her the title, however i’m still out a car. she gave me like $300 out of the $3500 we agreed on and stopped responding to me. the car needs some work, the biggest thing being the ac evap for the safety of the babies and that can be around $2k labor and all. that was her excuse at first and then she just dropped me.

i’ve talked to a cop about it, he said that it’s civil and there’s nothing they can do legally to find her. i don’t have her new address, just a phone number and shes blocked me on all socials. my question is, if i were to find her/ the car, would i be able to call the cops and force her to give the keys back after showing them my title? we didn’t sign a contract or anything (again, i know i’m dumb) and this is in texas.

not getting the money for this car has just fucked me over pretty good, i had to move back with my mom and it’s been incredibly difficult to find a decent job by her. i’ve talked to people about it and if i could get the car back i’ve got multiple people willing to buy it. i just don’t know how. am i just out of luck?