Mother shares joy as missing six-year-old son is found in Canada two months after disappearing from Miami
‘Nothing compares to this feeling, I’ve never had this feeling, this happiness,’ mother says
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A mother has shared her relief as her six-year-old son was found in Canada two months after he went missing in Southern Florida.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said on Sunday that Jorge “Jojo” Morales had been discovered uninjured and well in Canada.
Yanet Leal Concepcion, Jojo’s mother, told Local10: “I’m just so happy because my son is okay, I feared the worst”.
“Every mother fears the worst and ... I’m just so happy I can’t stop crying,” she added.
The authorities had searched for Jojo since his disappearance on 27 August.
According to Local10, the child was kidnapped by his father, Ms Concepcion’s ex-husband, Jorge Morales, 45, and his mother Lilliam Pena Moreles, 68. The pair were wanted on a charge of custodial interference, which is a felony.
“This is another example how local, state, federal, and international law enforcement, along with the United States and State Attorney’s Office coming together for the safety of a child and will continue to work together to fight the greater evil,” Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said.
The suspects were detained by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, according to the authorities.
The investigation went cold for weeks after the trio entered Canada.
But on Sunday, an individual in Moncton, New Brunswick in eastern Canada saw them in a Walmart.
“Somebody called and somebody said something and I’m just so grateful for that person because it just took that,” Ms Concepcion told Local10. “Spreading the news, spreading the word and people wanted to help.”
She spoke with her son hours later.
“All I said was, ‘Hey baby! I missed you!’ and he says ‘It’s mommy, it’s mommy!’” she said.
The local outlet reported that Jojo has mostly been unaware of what has been happening.
“I’ve never been this happy,” Ms Concepcion added. “This is only going to be topped by the moment I hug him. Nothing compares to this feeling, I’ve never had this feeling, this happiness, I am just so blessed right now I don’t even know what to say.”
The FBI and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recently released surveillance footage showing Jojo and his father in a store.
“They were buying toothbrushes and envelopes,” Ms Concepcion said, according to The Sun. “And then they went to a Dollar Tree or a dollar store and bought him cars. My son is obsessed with cars.”
WPLG reported that Jojo had told his mother that “his dad wanted to take him to live on a farm with windmills and wanted me to go with him”.
Mr Morales had been planning the kidnapping for as long as a year, according to police. Ms Concepcion said he had been researching how to live off the grid.
He had reportedly been paying for things using only cash for a year.
Private Investigator Joe Carrillo told NBC Miami that “it came to the point that we knew they were in Canada. That was based on some search dogs and then we started to put the information together”.
He added that an Amber alert helped locate Jojo.
”A tipster called this morning from a Walmart and said he believed he saw a father with his son shopping. Police shortly came after and arrested the father and the grandmother,” the investigator said, according to NBC.
Ms Concepcion went to Mr Morales’s residence after Jojo didn’t return home in August.
“Everything was gone. Everything was gone from his apartment,” she said. “His phones were off. His mom’s phone was off.”
“I am glad my son is not aware of what is going on because this is a trauma. I got to speak to him and I told him I was waiting for you to come back from vacation baby! He was just like yes momma,” Ms Concepcion said, NBC reported.