Police found a 14-year-old boy missing from his mother for nearly four years hidden behind a fake wall in his father’s Georgia home on Saturday.
Clayton Country police found the boy behind a wall in a linen closet after his mother, who lives in Florida, received a text from her son saying that he was being held captive, Sgt. K.T. Hughes, spokesman for Clayton County police, told a local ABC affiliate on Saturday.
“I just couldn’t believe it. We found him. We saw him. To say it was a great feeling is an understatement. He couldn’t thank us enough. He just kept saying, ’Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.’ He was just overjoyed that we had found him,” Officer Daniel Day told the station.
Clayton County Police Sergeant Joanne Southerland said that the boy was terrified of his captors.
“He retreated away from us until he knew that those people weren’t around him,” Ms. Southerland said the station reported.
The boy was never reported as missing to the Clayton County police, Mr. Hughes said and it was unclear if a missing persons report had been filed elsewhere.
The boy’s father, Gregory Jean, and stepmother, Samantha Joy Davis, and three juveniles were arrested in connection with the case, the station reported.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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