Mom arrested after Shelbyville boy who has autism found abandoned in Ohio
COLERAIN, Ohio (WISH) — A Shelbyville, Indiana, woman has been arrested after her son who has autism was abandoned Thursday night along an intersection in a Cincinnati suburb, police said.
Heather Nicole Adkins, 32, was arrested Saturday night in Georgetown, Kentucky, and taken to the Scott County, Kentucky, jail, according to the Georgetown Police Department.
Georgetown police responded about 7:20 p.m. Saturday to a call about an unwanted subject at a Marathon gas station in Georgetown, according to Assistant Chief Darrin Allgood and the department’s Facebook post on Sunday. Adkins originally lied about her identity, which police confirmed using her Social Security number, Allgood said.
Atkins was arrested on a 2011 warrant for failing to pay a fine in Bell County, Kentucky. Georgetown police later learned about Adkin’s outstanding arrest warrant in Hamilton County, Ohio, on charges of cruelty toward a child, and child endangerment. Allgood says an extradition warrant is being completed and an extradition hearing is set for Tuesday. Courts in Kentucky will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.
After the boy was found Thursday night, the Colerain Police Department in Hamilton County, Ohio, had sent out social media posts with the boy’s photo. They helped police on Saturday to identify the 5-year-old boy, who is safe. He is nonverbal, police said.
Police say the boy, who they’ve not publicly identified, was driven Thursday night to Colerain Township and abandoned at the intersection of Sheed Road and Gaines Road near White Oak, Ohio. That happened during heavy rain in a forested area with housing subdivisions nearby.
Josh Wanderski was driving through the intersection when he saw the boy walking alone and soaking wet just after 9 p.m. Thursday.
Wanderski on Friday told WXIX in Cincinnati, in video shared via CNN, “It’s a two-lane road, super dark, no lights, very windy, and it was also freezing, and he was just on the side of the road. He was waving me down, and luckily I was close so I could call the police. … He seemed to be calm. I don’t know if it was because he was a little out of it, but I don’t know.”
Shelbyville, Indiana, police told News 8 on Saturday night that it’s begun an investigation. News 8’s attempts to find the boy’s father in Shelbyville on Saturday night were unsuccessful.
The Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment to News 8 about what charges are in the arrest warrants mentioned by Colerain police. The prosecutor, Joe Deters, had told WLWT in Cincinnati, “These types of cases simply break your heart. All children should grow up loved and wanted. I hope the child ultimately ends up in a caring, loving home.”
Anyone with information on the case was asked to contact the Colerain Police Department at 513-321-2677.
