LOGAN COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities have completed an investigation of what was initially believed to be a child abduction in Oakley. The child has been reunited with his parents.
Early Wednesday, police responded to Mittens Travel Center, 1001 U.S. 40 in Oakley, to take a report after the clerk at the convenience store advised there was a couple in need of assistance, according to Officer Sara McDonald.
Officers contacted two individuals who only spoke Spanish. After translation it was determined that they were traveling cross country with another couple to New Mexico, when they were left at the Mitten’s Travel Center.
The couple advised that they were left behind but their 4 year old son was still in the vehicle.
An initial attempt to locate was sent out statewide, however, not all of the Amber Alert criteria had been met because the couple left behind believed this incident to be a mistake and not an abduction.
They did not believe their son was in danger. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Highway Patrol and other area law enforcement were contacted to assist in looking for the vehicle.
The Oakley Police Department was able to successfully ping a phone that was in the vehicle and get a location. It was then determined that the vehicle with the child inside was heading back towards Oakley from just west of the Colorado State Line.
Contact was made with the couple in the vehicle and they advised they stopped at the convenience store and did not realize the other couple got out of the vehicle before they left due to all of the luggage and the fact that the second couple were sitting in the third row of seats in the vehicle.
They believed that the couple was still asleep in the vehicle when they left. Once they realized the other couple was not in the vehicle, they turned around and headed back towards Oakley.
The vehicle with the child returned to Oakley and all parties were escorted to the Oakley Police Department where interviews were conducted.
It was determined that the whole incident was not a kidnapping but rather the couple at Mitten’s was left behind by mistake. The child was reunited with his parents, and all parties got back into the vehicle to continue on their trip to New Mexico.