The search for a missing child ended Sunday when the 3-year-old boy was returned safely to his family and a woman was arrested on multiple charges, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Atia Monay Thomas, 40, was charged with kidnapping and kidnapping, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
Around 2 a.m., Thomas took 3-year-old Kayden Thompson near his home. house in the 1200 block of Metze Roada non-verbal autistic child, according to the release. This is in Columbia, near the intersection with Broad River Road, not far from St. Andrews Road.
Earlier that night, Kayden fell asleep in his father’s arms, the sheriff’s department said. Kayden’s father eventually woke up to find that his son was no longer with him and that the front door of his home was open, according to the release.
The child’s parents immediately began searching for their son, and Kayden’s mother finally called a sheriff’s deputy. near the 3500 block of Broad River Road and reported her son was missing, the sheriff’s department said.
The deputy helped the mother return to her home and gathered information while more officers responded to the home and began searching the area, according to the release. The search included members of the sheriff’s department’s K9 division and investigations team, as well as drones and members of the Colombia Police Department.
Shortly after deputies arrived to look for Kayden, a man in a vehicle flagged down a deputy on patrol and said he saw Kayden while driving on Metze Road and stopped to call 911, the sheriff’s department said. The man said he saw a woman approach Kayden, and she said she knew where the child lived and would take him back to her home, according to the release.
About 15 minutes later, the man returned and found sheriff’s department vehicles in the area, but the woman was unknown to Kayden’s family and did not return the child to her home, the sheriff’s department said.
As officers continued to search, they were able to locate a camera in the doorway that showed a child matching Kayden’s description who was being carried by a woman, according to the release. Family members identified the child as Kayden but did not recognize the woman, and the search was elevated to a possible kidnapping, the sheriff’s department said.
Soon Kayden’s family members began shouting that they had just seen the woman in the camera footage in a vehicle traveling in the area, and officers stopped the suspect vehicle, according to the release. Once the vehicle stopped, it was determined it was an Uber and that Thomas was the passenger, the sheriff’s department said.
Thomas and the driver were taken to the residence where family and deputies identified Thomas as the woman in the footage who was seen carrying Kayden, according to the release.
Kayden’s father said during the search he saw Thomas carrying his son and grabbed Kayden, but Thomas left in the Uber, according to the release.
The sheriff’s department said Thomas intentionally and unlawfully confined Kayden without her parents’ permission and took the 3-year-old to his home, where she changed her clothes. Despite what she told the man who called 911, Thomas did not return Kayden to her parents and attempted to leave the area with the child, according to the release.
Thomas was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, where she remains behind bars while no link has been definedJail records show.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
