On Saturday afternoon deputies with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office located and recovered a 7-year-old boy who had been abducted from Brevard County earlier today.
Information was received of a home invasion that occurred in Melbourne, Florida on today’s date. According to Melbourne Police, a female victim in the home had been beaten and her 7-year-old son was abducted. Melbourne Police were able to obtain a suspect vehicle description and learned of a possible direction of travel. A dispatcher with Melbourne Police knew the suspect vehicle may be travelling through our county. That dispatcher alerted a personal contact who works with our agency and efforts were coordinated to attempt to locate the vehicle. Deputies were able to intercept the suspect vehicle on I-10 Westbound near the 304-mile marker and conducted a high-risk traffic stop. The occupants of the vehicle were detained, and the child was located unharmed.
“We are grateful that this child was recovered safely by our deputies,” said Sheriff Mark Hunter. “Established cooperative relationships with other agencies, along with tremendous effort by our deputies helped to ensure this child was not placed in further danger. This was an outstanding job by everyone involved.”
Detectives with the Melbourne Police Department are responding to our county to continue their investigation and return the child to his mother.
