PHOENIX – A toddler was briefly kidnapped by a woman police say lived in the same complex as the child.
Police say they received a call on Friday evening about a possible kidnapping of a 3-year-old boy in east Phoenix. Officers were told the boy was missing and had been taken by a stranger. The boy was playing with several other kids in a grassy area of an apartment complex in the 2900 block of East Fairmont in Phoenix.
The boy's mother had her apartment door ajar as she watched an infant who is also her child. At some point she did not see her son asked the other kids at the courtyard where he was and they said he had left with an adult.
The boy's mother called 911 and Phoenix police say officers responded within a minute of the call. Officers were able to locate the child about 35 minutes after he was reported missing after his mother provided a detailed description of the child to police.
The suspect, identified as 50-year-old Ronda Williams, is “vaguely known to the victim’s family,” according to police. She lives in the same apartment complex as the child but does not know him or his family.
Officers say the boy had a tootsie roll with him that the suspect had bought for him at a local store. Williams was taken into custody after making statements that police say confirmed the probable cause for her arrest.
Williams did not ask the boy's family for permission to take the child. She now faces one count of custodial interference.
