3-Year-Old Boy Found Unharmed After Alleged Abduction In Detroit; Suspect In Custody

DETROIT (WWJ) - An Amber Alert has been canceled after a 3-year-old boy allegedly abducted from his mother's west side Detroit home was found unharmed.

Marvie Gardner was located in front of an abandoned home on Biltmore St. on the city's west side. The boy's alleged kidnapper, 19-year-old Michael Lee Grayson, was found a short time later and arrested.

Michigan State Police First Lt. Mike Shaw credited the public with helping to solve the case.  He said a citizen saw the suspect pull up to the house with the child and leave without him.

That citizen picked up the boy and called police.

"The individual recognized the suspect from the Amber Alert photos that were put out there and contacted 911 where he was trying to escape from the scene," said Michigan State Police First Lt. Mike Shaw.

"Police were able to stop the bus that he was located on and get him into custody."

Gardner had been reported missing by his mother early Thursday morning in the 19300 block of Winston Street, near 7 Mile and Telegraph roads.

According to police, a group of people were gathered at the home overnight when Grayson got into an argument with his girlfriend who is the mother of his child. That woman left the house, taking the daughter with her — but Grayson stayed behind.

Gardner's mother, Latoya Spears told WWJ's Mike Campbell that she hardly knows Grayson, but agreed when he asked to use the telephone.

"He came upstairs to use my phone and he never left," Spears said. "He stayed upstairs, he was using my phone. After he fell asleep, I didn't fall asleep until after 2 o'clock. I didn't get up until after 5:30 this morning and noticed that him and my baby was missing."

Spears said she frantically looked around the home, but her son was nowhere to be found.

"I came downstairs, I checked the whole house," she said. "I went to the basement, checked the basement, but once I opened up the side door to the basement, this side door was open and one of the knives out the kitchen is missing."

Grayson also apparently left a cryptic note behind, saying that when he gets his child back, Spears will get her son back.

Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody said Gardner appeared to be in good mental and physical health but that he would be taken to Children's Hospital to be checked out before being released to his family.

Reporting from the child's home, WWJ's Zahra Huber asked the boy's grandmother what message she had for the alleged kidnapper.

"I'm mad at you right now! But I'm glad you returned my baby unharmed, and that's all I care about right now," Yolanda Burnett-Johnson said. "But you know that if I wasn't overwhelmed with joy that you returned him, you know I'd be coming for you."

Police said the boy's mother was taken to a local hospital for treatment after having trouble breathing during her son's disappearance. She's expected to be OK.

Shaw said police still aren't sure what the relationship is between Grayson and Spears and they are continuing to investigate.

Greyson remains in custody, awaiting charges. An investigation is ongoing.

In:
• Detroit
• Missing Person