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Last updated on Monday, May 16, 2016
(BLOOMINGTON) - Bloomington Police were called to the Monroe County Library Sunday night after a woman reported her infant had been abducted.
Local and state police were alerted after receiving a call at 5:34 p.m. According to police a 17-year-old mother and ward of the state had been allowed supervised visitation with her 5-month-old child who is also a ward of the state. The teen, wearing a gray sweatshirt and denim jacket, left the library with the baby.
Police expanded their search within minutes of receiving the call by going block-by block and by placing roadblocks along Ind. 37 looking for the missing infant.
Officers were able to track the woman's cellphone using automatic pings on area cellphone towers.
Police from Bloomington, Monroe County Sheriff's Department, IU Police and Indiana State Police pursued the teen north toward Indianapolis along Ind. 37. The pings registered every 15 minutes, showing the cellphone's progress as she made her way north of Martinsville by 6:13 p.m.
Police shut down traffic at the intersection of Ind. 37 and Ind. 144 around that time in hopes of catching the teen and finding the missing baby. But the cellphone's signal continued to travel northbound. A few minutes later police say the phone pinged near Ind.37 and Harding Street and then onto I-465 in Indianapolis.
At 6:45 a.m. Monday, Bloomington Police reported the teen was located at 11:30 p.m. Sunday in the 4700 Block of E. 34th Street. After an interview she provided investigators with the location of her child who was found safe and unharmed at a family friend's house in the 8100 block of Schoen Drive in Lawrence, Indiana around 2 a.m. Monday.
The juvenile mother was referred to court on B Misdemeanor charge of interference with child custody. The child was placed in the care of the Department of Children Services.
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