A six-year-old boy from Missouri who was missing for five months has been found safe and alive.
Braedence Jones was found in an attic crawl space of a home south of Camdenton in Laclede County, having first been reported missing on 3 August when he failed to return to his biological father Ryan Jones following a visit with his mother Aubrey Ferguson.
The boy's disappearance prompted the Missouri State Highway Patrol to issue an endangered person advisory in October.
On Tuesday, officers from the US Marshal’s service and Laclede County detectives searched the suspected property with a search warrant - where they found six-year-old Braedence in an attic crawl space alongside his mother. That crawl space had been nailed shut and covered with carpet, Camden County Sheriff’s Department said.
According to sheriffs, Ms Ferguson’s boyfriend Woodrow Ziegler had placed furniture in front of the attic crawl space in an effort to conceal it.
According to an affidavit by the boy’s father, Ferguson had told him in text messages that their son was safe but would not disclose where he was.
The Camden County Sheriff’s office also said that the boy’s mother had been keeping him home from school and “more than likely has not taken him to to a doctor if he needed one.”
Ms Ferguson and Mr Ziegler have been arrested and Braedence has been returned to his father.
Ms Ferguson is being held on a child abduction charge, with a bond of $200,000. Mr Ziegler is facing a charge of hindering a prosecution.
Upon being reunited with his father, Jones’ girlfriend Breanne Dominguez posted on Facebook about the reunion, sharing photos of Jones and Braedence and writing: “Our little boy is home. God is sooo good!
“Thank you for all the prayers, shared, phone calls and etc. We don’t know how to thank everyone enough. Our hearts are so full of joy at the moment. Just thank you everyone.”
