A boy from Mooresville, Indiana, USA, who went missing when he was only aged three was just found, two years later, in Bloomington, Indiana, on Tuesday afternoon (July 9). Steven Bryan, who is now five years old, had been taken by his mother amid a bitter custody battle.
The Mooresville Police Department and other agencies used surveillance and said they learned that three people were spotted at a home of interest on Fox Hollow Road in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Indiana-based broadcaster WIBC reported on Tuesday.
The three people were subsequently identified as Steven, his mother Deborah Bryan, and her boyfriend Caleb Blevins.
Mooresville Police Chief Kerry Buckner told WIBC: “We’ve been working on this case for the past two years.
“And we had a lot of help in the initial part of the investigations from the US Marshalls and the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center.”
A boy from Mooresville, Indiana, USA, who went missing when he was only aged three was just found, two years later, in Bloomington, Indiana
Buckner explained that as a result of the investigation spanning outside his jurisdiction, an analyst named Angie Meacham had assisted the Mooresville Police Department’s detectives.
“She initially helped us with the US Marshalls, and she continued to work on it,” the police chief recalled. “And then about two or three months ago, we were connected with the Indiana State Police, detectives Alan and Robbins, who do some sort of covert operations, and they agreed to help detectives Matt McDaniel from Mooresville Police, who was working on it.”
Upon extending their research, the law enforcement found some places of interest before finally being able to identify the trio in Bloomington.
Image credits: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
“So they went up to the door and knocked on the door,” Buckner revealed. “Nobody would answer, but they knew people were inside, so they applied for a search warrant, and they were granted a search warrant, and when they made entry into the house, they located Steven Bryan, his mother, Debra, and Debra’s boyfriend, Caleb Blevins.”
Deborah Bryan was reportedly taken into custody on an outstanding warrant of interference with custody.
Meanwhile, Steven was taken into protective custody and will be released to the Department of Child Services during the investigation.
Buckner assured that the little boy was “fine,” adding: “Mom was just hiding him out because of some sort of custody battle with his real father.”
Steven Bryan, who is now five years old, had been taken by his mother amid a bitter custody battle
As per the police chief, Bryan had an active warrant out of Morgan County, Indiana, for a failure to appear at her custody court case.
Bryan possibly also had a warrant in Marion County. Therefore, she will be taken to the Morgan County jail and will later be extradited to Marion County after judicial proceedings in Morgan County.
“The fact is, [over the] last two years, we gave [Bryan] ample opportunity to just let us know that Steven was okay,” Buckner admitted.
He continued: “I mean, we agreed to do a Zoom meeting where, however, we just want to make sure that Steven was okay, and that Caleb was okay, because his mother and his ex-wife were also concerned about Caleb’s well-being, because he had not been heard from, he had a small daughter with a ex-wife, he had contacted his daughter, which was unusual, so I mean, we didn’t know what was going on.”
The police chief added: “We just wanted to have some closure to [say], ‘Yes, these people are okay,’ and so we didn’t have to work so hard on it, but we had put in a lot of, you know, hours working on this case.
“All she had to do was go to court, but once you get us involved in the missing persons, and we feel like there are some of these lives in jeopardy, or there may be, you know, somebody injured or endangered, then we have an obligation to continue to work on it.”
The investigation suggested that the house in Bloomington where Steven had been hidden was owned by a relative of Bryan.
Steven was found on Tuesday afternoon (July 9)
“Now that we found the child, we know the child’s okay,” Buckner told WIBC. “We’re going to continue to investigate to see who helped them out.”
The State Police is currently handling the investigation in Monroe County.
A Silver Alert had been issued for all three people on August 26, 2022, by State Police, WIBC reported. That alert has now been lifted.
Court documents reportedly revealed that Steven’s father reported the boy missing on July 18, 2022.
The documents also disclosed that Bryan left the area with Blevins and her son. Police believed Bryan’s bank account had been closed, and the cell phones of both the mother and her boyfriend were deactivated.
It is estimated that 2,300 children are missing every day in the US, Child Find of America explains.
An estimated 203,900 children were victims of a family abduction in 1999. A family abduction occurs when a family member takes or keeps a child in violation of the custodial parent/guardian’s legitimate rights.
Moreover, 78% of abductors were a non-custodial parent, 35% of children were between 6 to 11 years old, 24% of the abductions lasted between one week and one month, and 82% of abductors intended to affect custody permanently.
Additionally, 21% are other relatives, 42% of children were living with a single parent, 15% were living with another relative/foster parent, and 66% were taken by a male relative.
“Glad he was found,” a reader commented
