COLUMBUS, Ohio — Authorities recovered the body of a little boy who was the center of a statewide AMBER Alert, Columbus police said.
During a press briefing, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant provided an update on the search for Darnell Taylor which came to an end on Friday.
Taylor was taken Wednesday from the 900 block of Reeb Avenue around 3 a.m. An AMBER Alert was issued later that morning.
During a press conference held Thursday afternoon, Columbus police played a 911 call from a man claiming that his wife told him that "she had just killed our foster child." A woman could be heard screaming throughout part of the call. Police identified the woman as 48-year-old Pammy Maye.
The man later said on the 911 call that his wife left the home.
Police also showed dash camera video of a responding officer in the area of East Livingston Avenue and Lockbourne Road. The video shows a Jeep Cherokee, believed to be driven by Maye, driving in the opposite direction. The Jeep was found a couple of hours later in a Cleveland suburb, but Taylor and Maye were not found.
Watch Friday's press briefing in the player below.
Just before 9:40 p.m. Thursday, the Brooklyn Police Department in northeast Ohio was called to a business on Tiedman Road after receiving a report of a woman walking suspiciously around the building. Officers identified the woman as Maye and took her into custody without incident.
Bryant said she was taken to a hospital in the Cleveland area for medical treatment. On Sunday, Maye was booked at the Cuyahoga County Jail on charges of murder, kidnapping and child endangering.
Detectives interviewed Maye, where they learned that Darnell’s body may have been in a sewage drain on Marsdale Avenue in Franklin County.
Authorities responded to the area Friday morning and found the body. According to the Franklin County Coroner's Office, he was positively identified by family members on Friday afternoon.
Darnell's suspected death is being investigated as a homicide.
Police will work with the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office to charge Maye with murder and extradite her back to Franklin County, Bryant said.
“I am devastated by the death of Darnell Taylor, just 5 years old. This is not the outcome anyone wanted. 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,” Mayor Andrew Ginther said.
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