A boy who was allegedly taken by his mother, who didn’t have custody of him, seven years ago from Atlanta was found last month in Colorado after the mother was arrested in an unrelated incident in suburban Denver, authorities said on Wednesday.
Rabia Khalid, 40, was arrested on 23 February after sheriff’s deputies were asked to investigate a suspected burglary taking place at a vacant home that was for sale, the Douglas county sheriff’s office said. The deputies found two children in a vehicle outside the property and a man and a woman coming out of the home who initially told them they were working for a realtor, it said in a press release.
Deputies, working with dispatchers, eventually determined that the woman was Khalid, who had an active warrant related to the 2017 disappearance of her son, Abdul Aziz Khan, who is now 14. The case was featured on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, according to the US Marshals Service, which had been helping look for the boy. Khan was the older of the two children found in the vehicle, it said.
Khalid and the man were arrested on charges including second-degree kidnapping, forgery and identity theft.
Khalid’s lawyer, Kyle Sawyer, said he was still reviewing all the information related to the case but said he would be adamantly defending Khalid.
The boy and the younger child, whose identity has not been released, were taken into protective custody and decisions about where they will be placed will be made by the court, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said the boy’s family is asking for privacy at this time, but they expressed their gratitude in a statement.
“We’re overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found. We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years,” they said.
