CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A 9-year-old boy has been returned to his mother six months after he was abducted to Mexico by his stepfather.
The Leaf-Chronicle reports 56-year-old William King, of Clarksville, won temporary custody of the child by falsely claiming the mother tried to prostitute the boy through a Craigslist ad.
Because Jenny Ponce was living in Bluffton, South Carolina, at the time, the South Carolina attorney general’s office investigated the allegations. It found the Craigslist ad had actually been posted from King’s computer in Clarksville.
In light of that information, a Tennessee judge ordered custody returned to the mother on Feb. 27. While Ponce was waiting for the papers to be processed, King rushed to the boy’s school, taking him out of class and fleeing.
A nationwide, then international, search ensued. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents worked with U.S. Marshals and Mexican authorities to locate King on the outskirts of Mexico City on Thursday.