Abducted Baby's Mom Regains Custody of Kids
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CBS/AP) First her baby was abducted. Then she was investigated for trying to sell her own child. Now finally, a mother will be reunited with her newborn son after losing him twice.
Infant Yair Anthony Carillo was kidnapped last Tuesday, Sept. 29, and his mother Maria Gurrolla was slashed during the incident. The baby was recovered in Alabama last Friday, Oct. 2, but authorities refused to return the child to his mother and took the extraordinary step of removing Gurrolla's three other children from her home because they believed they had evidence a family member was trying to sell baby Carillo.
Now the plot has turned again. Authorities no longer believe Maria Gurrolla and the child's father Jose Carillo were involved in their own child's abduction, the Department of Children's Services and the Nashville police said Tuesday.
"The kids will be returned as soon as logistically possible," said Thomas Miller, an attorney who was appointed to represent them in the custody case.
Miller told The Associated Press that police informed child welfare officials Tuesday they had "cleared the parents of any wrongdoing."
The baby was recovered Friday after he was abducted during a Sept. 29 knife attack on his mother in her home. Gurrolla was briefly reunited with the infant Saturday before Children's Services took him and his 3-, 9- and 11-year-old siblings into state custody, saying it was for their safety.
Tammy Renee Silas, 39, was charged with kidnapping after authorities said they found the baby at her home about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Nashville.
Silas has not been charged in the attack on Gurrolla, who was stabbed several times and suffered a collapsed lung.
The police statement says "significant unanswered questions remain" in the case, including why Gurrolla and her infant were targeted.
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
October 6, 2009 - Baby for Sale? Kidnapped Infant Back With Mother, But Not For Long
October 1, 2009 - Newborn Missing, Snatched from Tenn. Home