‘Bubbly’ boy, 5, found dead in Ohio sewage drain, adoptive mom arrested
A 5-year-old Ohio boy was found dead inside a sewage drain early Friday, two days after an Amber Alert was issued when he went missing with his adoptive mom, who has been taken into custody.
Darnell Taylor was reported missing Wednesday after the husband of the boy’s legal guardian, Pammy Maye, called 911 around 3 a.m. to report she had harmed him.
Maye, 48, who was arrested Thursday night, allegedly woke her husband up and told him the boy was “no longer with them” and “he not alive anymore,” according to Fox 19.
Taylor was found in a drain on Marsdale Avenue around 1 a.m. Friday.
“This is not like her at all, the person that I thought that I knew,” Taylor’s biological aunt Quanisha King told WBNS.
Maye’s husband, who was not identified, told dispatchers she was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder and had been taking medication, but was acting “very out of character for her,” according to Fox 19.
Police were dispatched to Teatman Avenue after receiving a report of a woman suspiciously walking around a business, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said at a press conference.
She was arrested and told cops Taylor’s body was located on Marsdale Avenue.
“This is not the outcome that we wanted, but we’re gonna make sure that we do everything that we can to bring justice for Darnell,” Bryant said.
Maye allegedly covered her husband’s mouth after he called the police and told him she had a “plan” before she fled the residence.
Her empty Jeep Cherokee was later found at a Brooklyn, Ohio, apartment complex, according to Fox 19.
She was nabbed late Thursday and arrested.
Taylor has been in Maye’s custody for less than a year and he hasn’t seen his biological family since July, not long after he left their home, according to WBNS.
Before gaining legal custody of Taylor, Maye had known the family for years and attended their parties and cookouts but recently stopped answering their phone calls, the family told WBNS.
“We’ve been out there to their home, knocking on the front door, the side door, no answer,” Taylor’s biological grandmother Tawanda told the outlet. “We thought maybe she was keeping him from us so he can be a part of their family first, but six months … that’s a long time.”
Taylor’s biological grandfather said the little boy was “rough” and that they “couldn’t handle him,” but remembers the boy as having a “bubbly personality” and was always seen smiling and dancing.
“I hate to say we couldn’t handle him, but we didn’t want him in the system,” Anthony told WBNS.
The couple said they partially blame themselves for Taylor’s death.
Maye has been charged with kidnapping and child endangerment, according to People. Prosecutors are trying to get a murder charge tacked on.
