Police: Missing 5-year-old boy’s body found; foster mom in custody
AMBER alert was issued Wednesday for boy, foster mom.
A body believed to be a missing 5-year-old Columbus boy who was the subject of an AMBER Alert was found early Friday morning, according to Columbus police.
“Early this morning we recovered the body that we believe to be Darnell Taylor,” Chief Elaine Bryant said during a press conference Friday morning. “This is a tragic development, and we certainly hoped for a different outcome.”
Around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, police in the inner Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn responded to a business on a report of a woman walking around the building suspiciously. The woman was identified as Taylor’s 48-year old foster mother, Pammy Maye, who was last seen with the boy.
Officers took Maye into custody without incident before transporting her to a Cleveland-area hospital for treatment, Bryant said. It was not clear what type of treatment she is receiving.
Columbus police investigators responded to interview Maye and learned Taylor’s body may be in a sewage drain in the 1000 block of Marsdale Avenue.
Shortly after 1 a.m., police located a body believed to be the boy’s, Bryant said. Police believe Taylor was killed in the Columbus area. It’s not clear how he died or if any weapons were used.
The department is meeting with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office to add murder charges to Maye’s case and move her back to Franklin County. She was previously charged with kidnapping and endangering children earlier this week, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records.
On Wednesday an AMBER Alert was issued for Taylor and Maye after they were last seen together. The Jeep that Maye was driving was discovered in Brooklyn, Ohio, around 6 a.m. that morning.
She had last been seen around 3 a.m. Wednesday, when her husband called 911 and said Maye told him the child was no longer alive, according to a report from the Associated Press. He reportedly said he searched the home and could not find the boy.