A 5-year-old Ohio boy has been found deceased after a statewide manhunt for him and his foster mother, who is accused of kidnapping the child and later leading police to his body.
An Amber Alert for Darnell Taylor was issued shortly after 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday after police got a call from the husband of Pammy Maye, 48, saying that she had woken up in the middle of the night and made statements that made him believe that Taylor “had been hurt or was in danger,” Columbus Police Deputy Chief Smith Weir told CBS News at a press conference.
According to WBNS, the husband told the dispatcher that “she had just killed our foster child.” Maye could reportedly be heard screaming in the background of the call.
The caller, who has not been publicly named, said that Maye then drove away from the residence, managing to evade police, who arrived just minutes later.
“Police later found the unoccupied car in Brooklyn, Ohio, about two hours away,” CBS News reported later that day.
Weir added during the press briefing that the couple had been fostering Taylor since May 2023.
Police then received another 911 call on Thursday night reporting a suspicious woman walking around a commercial building.
When Brooklyn police responded to the scene, they identified the woman as Maye and took her to the hospital and questioned her, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said.
After being arrested, Maye allegedly told officers where to find the little boy’s body.
She has been charged with kidnapping and endangerment so far, with additional murder charges pending.
“I am devastated by the death of Darnell Taylor, just 5 years old. This is not the outcome anyone wanted,” Mayor Andrew Ginther said. “I ask the community to lift up his family at such a difficult time. My thanks to Columbus Police for their swift and steadfast dedication to find the child, and to the numerous tips from the public.”
It is unclear what Taylor’s cause of death was, but his death is being investigated as a homicide.
