Following a statewide Amber Alert, a five-year-old Ohio boy was found dead in a sewage drain and his adoptive mother is the suspected killer.
An Amber Alert was issued Wednesday at 5:10 a.m. after 5-year-old Darnell Taylor went missing from his south Columbus home.
His adoptive father called 911 around 3 a.m. to tell officers that his wife had admitted the boy was dead and that he couldn’t find him.
The alert was canceled after police discovered Darnell’s body in a sewage drain in the 1000 block of Marsdale Avenue on Columbus’ southwest side.
The grisly discovery came shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, after police arrested Pammy Maye, 48, in connection with the Amber Alert.
An Amber Alert was issued Wednesday at 5:10 a.m. after 5-year-old Darnell Taylor went missing from his south Columbus home.
The alert was canceled after police discovered Darnell’s body in a sewage drain in the 1000 block of Marsdale Avenue on Columbus’ southwest side.
The grisly discovery came shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, after police arrested Pammy Maye, 48, in connection with the Amber Alert.
Maye was Darnell’s adoptive mother at the time of her disappearance.
A detective wrote that Maye put her hand over her husband’s mouth during the 911 call and told him she “had a plan.”
She was seen in her nightgown walking around a building in the 4000 block of Tiedeman Road after the boy went missing.
Officers found Maye’s vehicle behind the Parkview Estates apartment complex, near where Darnell’s body was found, Wednesday night.
After officers along with a K9 unit searched the area, Maye was detained and she revealed the location of the child’s body.
“This is not the outcome we wanted,” said Chief Elaine Bryant, “but we will make sure we do everything we can to get justice for Darnell.”
Maye is now in custody and being treated at a Cleveland-area hospital, but will return to Franklin County to face a murder charge for the murder of her adopted son.
During the search for Darnell, the boy’s biological family spoke out expressing their concern.
Maye is now in custody and being treated at a Cleveland-area hospital, but will return to Franklin County to face a murder charge for the murder of her adopted son.
“This is not the outcome we wanted,” said Chief Elaine Bryant, “but we will make sure we do everything we can to get justice for Darnell.”
Anthony and Tawanda Baynes, Darnell’s biological grandparents, have been friends of Pammy for many years.
‘Pammy….what are you doing? This is Darnell, you love him. Please bring him home,” Anthony pleaded.
The grandfather said he “couldn’t believe his ears” when a friend called him about the Amber Alert Wednesday morning.
The couple blames themselves for the tragic series of events because they used to take care of Darnell, but it became too much for them.
“We didn’t see it coming at all,” Tawanda said. WBNS.
“Look, it’s our fault Pammy caught Darnell,” Anthony said.
‘Darnell is a bit rough. We couldn’t handle it. “I hate to say we couldn’t handle it, but we didn’t want it in the system,” Anthony said.
Instead of putting him in the foster system, the grandparents gave the boy to a close family friend, Pammy Maye.
“This is not like her at all, the person I thought I knew,” said Darnell’s biological aunt, Quanisha King.
King admitted that the biological family had not seen Darnell since last July, when Maye gained full legal custody.
“We went to his house, knocked on the front door and the side door, but there was no answer,” Tawanda said.
“We thought maybe she was keeping it from us so he could be a part of her family first, but six months… is a long time,” Anthony said.