CLEVELAND, Ohio — A missing 5-year-old child, who was last seen in Yorktown, has been found safe and healthy in Cleveland, Ohio.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the child was recovered Tuesday in Northeast Ohio after being taken by a non-custodial parent on May 1.
Law enforcement in Virginia first learned the child and non-custodial parent were in Cleveland, and then the U.S. Marshals Missing Child Unit followed up on the information. They located the child at a home on Cedar Road and arrested 31-year-old Ashlee Benneson.
"It's certainly a far ways to go," Anne Murphy with the U.S. Marshals Service in northern Ohio told 13News Now Wednesday. "We may never know why Ohio. The case that's important to us is recovering that child no matter how far that non-custodial parent may go or that child may go."
Benneson, a resident of Newport News, was charged by the Newport News Police Department for custody/visitation violation, according to NNPD spokeswoman Kelly King. Benneson also faces a parental abduction charge in Newport News, according to USMS.
King said that the child's custodial parent reported Benneson for parental abduction after she failed to return the child to a home on Morrison Avenue in Newport News in May.
"Newport News and Cleveland, Ohio, that's quite the distance," Murphy said. "Once information is gathered, we're able to act quickly because of our reach across the country."
After her arrest, Benneson was taken to the Cuyahoga County Jail and is awaiting extradition to Virginia.
The child was turned over to the Department of Family Services and will be reunited with their custodial parent.
"Cases such as these highlight the reach of our agency and team," said U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott. "The safety of children is a highest priority for us and we are happy to recover this child and reunite them with their custodial parent."
According to the USMS, it received 845 law enforcement requests for help finding missing children during FY 2023 – 495 of which were found with the agency's help.
In Virginia, parental abduction is a Class 1 misdemeanor, unless the child is taken out of state. In that case, it becomes a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.