7-year-old boy considered ‘endangered missing’ after mom’s arrest found safe

Columbus police said a missing child considered “endangered” after his noncustodial mother was arrested Thursday on unrelated charges was found safe, police said.

No details on where he was found have been provided.

Columbus police Missing Persons Unit detectives asked for the public’s help Thursday night to find 7-year-old Kingston Gillyard, who had been missing since October 2023 from the city’s East Side. Kingston had been kept from his custodial parent by his mother, Shadasia Gillyard, who was arrested Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team and Columbus police after a brief standoff on Fountainview Court on the city’s East Side.

Gillyard was charged by Columbus police with felonious assault, accused of shooting a man multiple times around 12:45 a.m. Feb. 13, 2023. She was later released from jail on bond but failed to appear in court and her bond was revoked.

She is also wanted by

Whitehall police on several charges, accused of sending a man text messages threatening to kill him unless he dropped criminal charges against her. Among those charges are aggravated menacing, intimidating a witness and criminal damaging.

In addition, Gillyard is charged with interference with custody for allegedly taking her son from the custodial parent. Gillyard is considered a suspect in young Kingston’s disappearance and has refused to tell authorities where the boy is at.