Deputies in Camden County said they found a 6-year-old boy who had been missing for more than 5 months, inside an attic crawlspace that had been nailed shut, the boy's mother and her boyfriend were taken into custody.
Braedence Jones had been missing since August 3. His father reported him missing when he didn't return home from visiting his mother, 30-year-old Aubrey Ferguson.
County Sheriff's Office officials said in a news release.
"Ferguson and her boyfriend were hiding the child in an attic crawl space that had been nailed shut and concealed," according to authorities. "Ferguson was with the child in the crawl space when discovered."
U.S. Marshals acted on a tip when they executed a search warrant at a home in Laclede County, northeast of Springfield, on Tuesday.
Officers arrested Ferguson and her boyfriend, Woodrow Ziegler, another suspect in the case, on Tuesday.
Ziegler is a felon and was court-ordered to not be around Braedence. He is one of the reasons an endangered person advisory was issued by the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Braedence has been reunited with his father, who has full custody of the boy.
