Autistic Florida Boy Kidnapped By Father, Grandmother Amid Custody Battle Found Safe In Canada

A 6-year-old autistic boy, who was kidnapped by his father and paternal grandmother as his parents were involved in a custody dispute for the child, was found safe in Canada on Sunday.

The Miami-Dade Police said in a news release Sunday that Jorge "Jojo" Morales was found in good health and unharmed. In a Monday tweet, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that the child was located in Moncton, in the New Brunswick province of Canada.

The boy was last seen on Aug. 27 at his mother's home in Miami-Dade county, where his father, Jorge Morales, 45, and his grandmother, Liliam Morales, 68, picked him up. When his mother, who is his legal custodian, went to the apartment to check on her child, she found no one. "Everything was gone. Everything was gone from his apartment," Yanet Leal Concepcion, Jojo's mother, had told NBC Miami, "His phones were off. His mom's phone was off."

Police at the time couldn't issue an Amber Alert as his father had a court-approved sharing order. However, when Jorge failed to return him, violating the court order, his mother contacted the cops to report the incident, following which a missing person alert was issued naming Jorge and Liliam.

Police had suspected that Jojo could be with his father after the 2006 Ford Expedition truck driven by the latter was found in Maine on Sept. 26. Deputies back then had released surveillance footage from a Walgreens in Houlton, confirming Jojo had been in Maine at some point during the course of abduction and the suspicion was validated after police found the child's belongings in the car.

The FBI worked with Miami-Dade Police Department, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the investigation, the U.S. Marshals, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, and the Miami State Police to search for the missing child. The RCMP has since taken Jorge and Liliam into custody.

Yanet told Local 10 that she was overjoyed at the safe recovery of her son. "I'm just so happy because my son is okay, I feared the worst," she said, adding: "Every mother fears the worst and I'm just. I can't my body is like leaving my soul. I'm just so happy I can't stop crying."

"This is another example of how local, state, federal, and international law enforcement, along with the United States and State Attorney's Office coming together for the safety of a child and will continue to work together to fight the greater evil," Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said in a statement, according to Local 10.