Boy missing for 4 years found in Clayton County, reunited with mom

 
A 13-year-old boy reported missing four years ago was reunited with his mother late Saturday morning after being found safe overnight, hidden behind a false wall in a closet of a Clayton County home.

Five people in the house were taken into custody on charges of false imprisonment, obstruction and cruelty to children.

Clayton County police Sgt. Kevin Hughes said officers first went to the home on Duke Court near Jonesboro about 11 p.m. Friday to conduct a welfare check on a child.

“Upon initial arrival, responding officers made contact with several occupants at the location who denied having knowledge of any information concerning the victim,” Hughes said. “After a brief search of the premises, the officers left without locating the victim.”

About 2 a.m. Saturday, police received a second call about the boy and returned to the house.

“While at the location during the second call, the victim was able to establish phone contact with his mother and she in turn passed on additional information to the officers on the scene,” Hughes said. “The victim was found behind a false wall within the residence.”

Police arrested five people at the home, including the boy’s father, 37-year-old Gregory Jean, and 42-year-old Samantha Joy Davis, and charged them with false imprisonment, cruelty to children and obstruction. The other three people arrested were juveniles, Hughes said.

Channel 2 reported that the boy, whose name has not been released, was visiting his father from Florida in 2010 when the father refused to return him to his mother.

The boy recently got in touch with his mother by phone.

The mother arrived at Clayton County police headquarters from out-of-state late Saturday morning, and was reunited with her son.

A neighbor told Channel 2 the boy was frequently outside the house, mostly doing yard work but sometimes playing.

Police told the station the child’s mother apparently reported the boy missing to child welfare authorities but not previously to police, possibly because she’s an immigrant unfamiliar with the system.

Investigators said there were many unanswered questions as to who has custody and why police weren’t brought in earlier and that the boy will likely stay in the custody of Division of Family and Children Services to ensure the child’s safety.

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Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 
[h1]This Boy Missing For Four Years Was Just Found Hidden Behind A Fake Wall[/h1]
The 13-year-old boy and his mother have reunited.  The boy’s father is among five people arrested and charged with false imprisonment, child cruelty and obstruction.posted on Nov. 29, 2014, at 11:39 a.m.


David MackBuzzFeed Staff

 

 

 

 

 

[h2]A boy reported missing by his mother four years ago has been found behind a “false wall” at a home in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, police have told BuzzFeed News.[/h2] 
The boy’s father is among five people who have been arrested and charged with false imprisonment, cruelty to children, and obstruction.

[h2]At around 11 p.m. ET Friday, Clayton County police said they were called to a house in Jonesboro on a tip that prompted them to conduct a child welfare check at the home.[/h2]

Google/David Mack

“Upon initial arrival, the responding officers made contact with several occupants at the location who denied having knowledge of any information concerning the victim,” police said in a statement.

Police left the home after a brief search, but received another call from the boy’s mother, who lives out of state, urging them to return to the house.

While police were searching the home again, the 13-year-old boy was somehow able to call his mother, who in turn relayed information to the officers on where the boy was being hidden.

Police say they were able to then find the boy behind a false wall. The wall was camouflaged by towels, according to Atlanta’s 11Alive.

Local media  reported that the boy’s father had refused to return the child to his mother after a 2010 visit. Neighbors told 11Alive  the man moved into the house six months ago.

Neighbors also reportedly spotted the boy playing outside and doing yard work on multiple occasions, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution  reported  that the boy was only recently able to get in touch with his mother by phone.

The name of the boy has not been released, nor have details about how the boy was able to obtain or use a phone.

[h2]The boy’s mother has now been reunited with her son.[/h2]
“It was very emotional,” Sgt. Kevin Hughes of Clayton County Police told BuzzFeed News. “She grabbed him and didn’t let go him for a while, which is to be understood.”

Sgt. Hughes could not clarify whether the boy spent frequent periods behind the wall, or was simply hidden there during the police search. However, he told journalists  the boy appears to have spent time inside of the home, in the garage, or behind the false wall.

He told BuzzFeed News more details would emerge once the police conduct a proper interview with the boy.

The Clayton County Police’s major felony unit will continue investigating the incident, and more charges are possible, police said.

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you go boy said:

good thing he was found and the mom got her boy back

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The 7th Mile said:

He was with his father though...Gotta be more to the story

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bright nikes said:

What more of a story do you need?

Custody battle went sour, Pops took his son and hid him behind a fake wall.

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The 7th Mile said:

bright nikes said:

What more of a story do you need?

Custody battle went sour, Pops took his son and hid him behind a fake wall.

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Why did he take his son though? You don't know why that man made that executive decision, he could have been living in a ****** up situation with his moms. Did it say his father was hurting him in any way? Why is the boy being left with CPS instead of going back with the mom? Did they say he was living in the fake wall or was he just hidden there so the police wouldn't find him? He was wrong with the way it was handled but maybe there was a method to the madness. But it's easier to just say **** it and crucify him right?

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The 7th Mile said:

He was with his father though...Gotta be more to the story

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oidreez said:

So then why would the boy be hidden behind a false wall and why when the cops came the first time they denied knowing the whereabouts of the boy?

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 [h1]Boy found behind fake wall reveals how he contacted biological mother[/h1]
POSTED 9:31 AM, DECEMBER 2, 2014, BY CNN WIRE SERVICE

• Atlanta, GA (WGCL) — In an exclusive interview with CBS46, the boy who was missing for four years and found behind a fake wall in a Clayton County home told reporter Daniel Wilkerson how he contacted his biological mother.
•  

“I just went on [Google] Play Store and I downloaded an app called Magic Jack and I called my mom,” 13-year-old Gregory Jean, Jr. said.

His biological mother, Lisa Smith, said she had talked to her son a few times during the four-year period he was missing.

Smith says she had custody of the child during that period, but the child’s father kept him when the boy went to visit him four years ago.

“It feels good,” Smith said. “It was too long.”

Smith says she has custody of Gregory and they are now headed back to her home state, but she did not say where that is.

Smith said that she is a U.S. citizen but would not comment on why she reported the boy missing to child services and not police.

She called the boy’s stepmother, Samantha Davis, an evil woman.

In a press conference on Monday afternoon, Clayton County police said the child’s father, Gregory Jean, Sr., denied even knowing his son, despite the fact that the child was hidden in the home during the police visit.

“There was a lot of deception,” said Sgt. Joanne Southerland. “They denied, but no physical obstruction.”

Meanwhile, the child’s step mom, Davis, was already on probation for punishing her biological son. According to court records, she cut her biological son’s tongue with a pair of hot scissors in 2004.

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[h1]Boy Hidden in Garage of Georgia Home Recounts Rescue: 'They Didn't Give Up'[/h1]

[h1]Kidnapped Boy Found Behind Wall 'Thankful to God'[/h1]NBC NEWS CHANNEL
The missing 13-year-old boy found hiding in a "false wall" inside a Georgia home exchanged harrowing text messages with his sister in the moments before police recovered him, according to NBC affiliate WESH. Gregory Jean Jr., who was reported missing by his mother in Florida four years ago after he was allegedly taken by his father, managed to use a smartphone to first contact his sister Friday — setting in motion his dramatic rescue.

Police are "on the way look out for the cops if you see them run out to them," his sister said in text messages obtained by WESH. Their mother had been able to alert police in Clayton County, a suburb of Atlanta, of the boy's location.

Gregory was hiding in an attic space over the home's garage, which police say was accessible through a false panel in a linen closet. He was allegedly forced to hide there on more than one occasion.

"If you have to bang on the garage door so the cops can hear you do it," the sister said.

Police arrested five people in connection with the boy's kidnapping, including his father, Gregory Jean Sr., 37, and his stepmother, Samantha Davis, 42. Jean and Davis face false imprisonment, cruelty to children and obstruction charges. The boy said he rarely spoke with his mother, and when he did, it was only on speakerphone and he had been coached on what to say, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Gregory added that he was given a cellphone by his father to keep in touch with school friends, but he never had the nerve to call his family in Florida until last week. He thanked police for helping him reunite with his mother. "They found me," Gregory told WESH, "and they didn't give up on me."

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