Charlie Bothuell IV becomes emotional June 25, 2014, after learning that Detroit officers found his 12-year old son, missing for 11 days.(Photo: Kimberly P Mitchell, Detroit Free Press)
DETROIT — The stepmother of a 12-year-old boy — who was found alive in the basement of his east side Detroit home 11 days after he went missing — has been taken into custody on a warrant issued for a probation violation, police said.
Monique Dillard-Bothuell was on probation for a weapons offense, court records show.
She and her husband, Charlie Bothuell IV, have come under increased scrutiny since 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell V, missing since June 14, was found Wednesday in the basement of their home while police executed a search warrant.
Charlie was released from the hospital earlier Thursday and is staying at his mother's house, friends and relatives say.
Dillard-Bothuell's two children have been taken into custody by Children's Protective Services, Detroit police spokesman Michael Woody said.
According to Wayne County Circuit Court records, Dillard-Bothuell was charged in 2013 with carrying a concealed weapon. In January this year she pleaded guilty to obtaining a pistol without a license, the concealed weapons charge was dismissed and she was given two years of probation, records show.
On the order of probation, it says Dillard-Bothuell, "may not own use or possess a firearm."
On Monday, a bench warrant was issued for Dillard-Bothuell for violating her probation after a handgun was found in her home while police executed a search warrant.
According to court records, officers with the Detroit Police Department and Violent Crime Task Force recovered the gun while Dillard-Bothuell was present.
Meanwhile, police continue to investigate Charlie's case, focusing on whether he was abused. Police said they have not ruled out the possibility of abuse.
Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said her office has not received a warrant request in Charlie's case; Detroit police said a warrant request could be turned over within the next couple of days.
It was somewhat staged, but ... you could tell he was there for a short while.
Sgt. Michael Woody, Detroit Police spokesman
Police found Charlie concealed by a makeshift barricade, crouched behind a large container, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Wednesday. He said police had searched the home several times before the one conducted Wednesday.
Woody said Thursday that Charlie had been in another location during earlier searches of the house. Police would have discovered Charlie otherwise, he said. Woody described the area in which the boy was found as a small mechanical room. Police found the boy Wednesday behind a large container with some food, including cereal and pop bottles.
"It was somewhat staged, but ... you could tell he was there for a short while," Woody said, declining to specify where police believe the boy had been since he disappeared from his east side Detroit home June 14. "It wasn't any grand, elaborate setup."
Charlie was wearing the same clothes he'd had on when he disappeared, Woody said.
Police said Charlie's condition is good and he has been talking to them.
"He was in a hospital this morning," Woody said. "He is being closely monitored by us."
A woman leaving the mother's house Thursday afternoon said police told the family not to speak with reporters but said the boy is fine and with his family before she drove away.
The saga of a family searching for a missing child took an abrupt and bizarre turn Wednesday. Craig held a news conference to announce that police were not ruling out the possibility of homicide in the case followed hours later with news that the boy had been found alive.
Charlie Bothuell V, 12, of Detroit had been missing since June 14 before he was found alive June 25 in his basement.(Photo: Detroit Police Department)
As Craig was making the announcement, Charlie's father, Charlie Bothuel IV, learned the news from cable TV show host Nancy Grace on live television. He left the interview and rushed to his home, where video images showed him collapsing in the arms of WDIV-TV reporter Guy Gordon after learning the good news.
Bothuell was adamant that he did not know his son was in the basement and said "there was no abuse of my son."
Woody said the investigation is continuing, and police potentially are looking at child-abuse issues. Police are working with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and will be in touch with the Department of Human Services and other agencies.
Evidence, including a PVC pipe found at another undisclosed location, is part of the investigation, Woody said.
Blood was found on the child's clothing in the house and in the trunk of the father's vehicle, but detectives are uncertain whose blood it is, a person familiar with the investigation said. A forensic interviewer is expected to talk Thursday to Charlie.
Mark Magidson, Bothuell's lawyer, said it defies logic that the many searches failed to uncover his client's son. A hallway in the basement connects various units in the Mies van der Rohe townhouses, a collection of modernist structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Residents call the hallway a tunnel and keep their garbage and other items in that area.
A door is on the far end from Bothuell's house that leads outside although a neighbor said the door is alarmed.
Bothuell has yet to see his son and was unable to travel to the hospital while the boy was there because authorities had seized his car and his computers, Magidson said.
"He tried to see his son shortly after he was found. They said no," Magidson said. "I told him, 'You have an absolute right to see your son.' "
Other family members, including Charlie's mother, stepmother and Bothuell, have been speaking with police. Bothuell, a registered nurse who runs a company based in Southfield, Mich., was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
He earlier had criticized police for their initial reaction to the case and their treatment of him and his family. He offered to take a public lie-detector test.
The boy left his home less than a mile from the Detroit River at about 9 p.m. ET June 14 after the boy's stepmother had a discussion with him over unfinished chores, Bothuell said. The boy was in the middle of a workout when he left.
The search began that night.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1v9R2x1
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/TCG0V4
0 comments:
Post a Comment