8-year-old boy who went missing in Washington found 9 months later in Missouri; grandpa charged
For nearly nine months, the disappearance of a Pacific Northwestern boy at the center of a nationwide child investigation remained a mystery to local, state and federal law enforcement.
All the while, the FBI said, the 8-year-old boy's legal guardians remained mum on his whereabouts.
But acting on a tip late last week, federal agents closed in on a location nearly 2,000 miles from the boy's Vancouver, Washington home, and found him safe. The rescue came after federal agent said they learned the boy's grandfather took him to Missouri in August, dropped him off and left him behind.
A spokesperson with the the FBI Seattle told Paste BN Wednesday that Breadson John, who had been listed as missing since June, was found "safe and apparently healthy" in Jasper County, Missouri. The county, with a population of about 122,000 people, is in the southwestern part of the state, about 60 miles west of Springfield near the Kansas state line.
A 24-year-old teacher was murdered in 1971. DNA on a cigarette butt just solved the case.
More: Vanderbilt University apologizes for using ChatGPT for 'disgusting' email on Michigan State shooting
A welfare check and mum grandparents
On June 17, Detectives from the Vancouver Police Department conducted a welfare check at the home where the boy lived after the agency received reports from the community concerned about the boy's whereabouts and well being.
When police spoke with the boy's grandparents, they told detectives he wasn't missing, but would not tell police anything else, the spokesperson said.
The couple, the spokesperson said, then moved out of their apartment a few weeks later.
Last week, he said, agents developed a lead the boy's grandfather had taken him on a plane to Missouri in August, but only the grandfather had returned to Washington.
"They were able to determine an address to a location of where the boy was and safely retrieve him," the spokesperson said.
State charges of custodial Interference have been filed against the boy's grandfather, the FBI said.
What remained under investigation Wednesday by local and federal authorities: Why the grandfather took the boy to Missouri, where the boy stayed, and what the boy was doing there.
A bilingual boy, a poster and Hawaii ties
In January, the FBI issued a missing person poster for the boy who also goes by Brxsan.
After his disappearance, the FBI said Breadson had ties to or might visit Hawaii, Arizona, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Agents said he was born in Hawaii and speaks English and Chuukese, also spelled as Trukese, a tongue native to the Federated States of Micronesia.
Colorado police shooting: He was picking up his brother at school. Now his family is suing in a fatal police encounter.
Breadson was found unharmed Friday by agents from FBI Kansas City in response to the lead from the Seattle division, with help from Jasper County deputies, the FBI posted on Twitter Tuesday.
On Wednesday the boy was in the care of the Missouri Department of Social Services, the FBI told Paste BN.
Staff from the Washington Child Protective Services department were en route to Kansas City to get the boy and return him to his home state, local outlet KGW reported.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.