Abducted, 6-year-old JoJo reunites with mom at Miami Airport
MIAMI - More than two months after he was abducted from South Florida, a 6-year-old boy with autism was reunited with his mother Tuesday night at Miami International Airport.
CBS4 cameras showed the moment Jorge "JoJo" Morales, holding a Miami-Dade police officer's hand spotted his mom, Yanet Leal Concepcion and while smiling, gave her a big hug and a kiss in Concourse J.
She tells CBS4's Peter D'Oench "There are no words to express how happy I am."
She also shared photos with CBS4 showing her smiling son on board a flight from Canada Tuesday morning.
Leal Concepcion said, "I have no words for this person who called in a tip about my son. I owe this person my son's life and I can't say thank you enough to this person. It took courage for that person to do this and thoughtfulness. That person thought about making the right decision for my family."
She also said she had spoken with the tipster and thanked her.
She said she spotted her son with his father at a Walmart store in Moncton in the province of New Brunswick about 182 miles east of the Maine border and called police this past weekend. JoJo's father, Jorge Morales, and 68-year-old grandmother Lilliam Pena Morales were taken into custody by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
JoJo is flying home with a social worker from Canada.
Private investigator Joe Carrillo had been assisting the family and said "This tipster did nothing short of saving a child's life, nothing short of saving a child's life and return to a mother her life that was lost without her child."
Jorge Morales is the ex-husband of Yanet Leal Concepcion. Morales and the grandmother are charged with interfering with custody and concealing a minor, contrary to a court order.
Leal Concepcion said on August 27th, her son was picked up by the grandmother as part of a court-ordered time sharing with her ex-husband but when JoJo was not returned, she called police.
"I was desperate," she told D'Oench on Monday.
Carrillo said the father had wanted to live "off the grid" in a remote area and on Tuesday Carrillo shared a photo with CBS4 that showed a cabin in Canada that the father had built for him and his son.
Carrillo said surveillance video from a Walgreens store in Houlton, Maine captured the father and the son on August 29th. They were eventually seen in the Walmart store in Canada which lead to the tip.
Those involved with the investigation included Miami-Dade Police, the F.B.I, FDLE, the U.S. Marshal's Office and Maine State Police.