Missing child found safe in Chicago after 7 years, mother arrested

CHICAGO - A child missing for more than seven years has been safely recovered in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, authorities announced Friday.

What we know:

The U.S. Marshals Service Northern District of Illinois, working alongside the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Chicago Police Department, found the child on July 17 after renewed efforts to track down the biological mother who had fled with the child in 2018.

The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) initially reported the infant missing in May 2018 after the child, then under state custody, was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. The mother disappeared before the child could be recovered, prompting a years-long search.

In May, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for the mother for contempt of court, and on July 9, Chicago police sought the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service to find the missing child. Investigators identified a possible address in Humboldt Park, where surveillance later confirmed the presence of the mother and the child, now older.

When authorities moved in, the mother was taken into custody without incident. Investigators initially encountered resistance when the child provided a false name, but after using the child’s real name, the child acknowledged their identity, officials said. 

DCFS took custody of the recovered child, an infant, a toddler, and a teenager who was also present at the scene. The teenager was later identified as an older sibling wanted by police for aggravated criminal sexual assault of a child and was arrested the following day.

The mother remains in custody at the Cook County Jail on the outstanding warrant. The missing child, who remains a ward of the state, has been returned to DCFS care.