OAKWOOD, Ga. — Two Georgia residents were arrested in Puerto Rico Monday after authorities found a missing toddler.
The Hall County child had been missing since September, authorities said. U.S. Marshals on the island had been investigating the case as a kidnapping, suspecting the child's noncustodial father, they said.
Authorities said the man picked up his son from a daycare facility in Oakwood, Georgia on Sept. 28 and didn't drop him back off on Oct. 3, as agreed upon with the child's mother.
After ongoing negotiations with the man to return the child were unsuccessful, the mother contacted the Oakwood Police Department.
Police issued a warrant for the man in Hall County on Oct. 28. Investigators learned the father had left the state and traveled to Puerto Rico.
Concern grew for the child as investigators learned he had been in and out of several homeless shelters and Airbnbs around the northern part of Puerto Rico with his girlfriend.
Officials investigating a home invasion found the man in Loiza and arrested him. His girlfriend was found elsewhere and investigators contacted authorities in a neighborhood in San Juan.
When they approached her, law enforcement learned she was with the 2-year-old. She turned over the child, complied with authorities and was taken into custody, they said.
The mother arrived in Puerto Rico Wednesday to get her son.
