Sylar Newton Update: Custodial Grandmother Nancy Collins Charged with Child Abuse
RIMROCK, Ariz. (CBS/KPHO/AP) The custodial grandmother of 2-year-old Sylar Newton, who was found dead this summer at a northern Arizona campground, has been arrested on a child abuse charge.
PICTURES: Sylar Newton Missing
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of 57-year-old Nancy Collins and added that the boy's custodial mother, Christina Priem, will also be charged with child abuse in the Sylar Newton Case.
According to CBS affiliate KPHO, Flagstaff police officers arrested Collins at a Flagstaff-area motel shortly after 10 a.m. on Christmas day on child abuse charges. In addition to the child abuse charge, Collins is also being charged with felony drug violations.
A sheriff's office statement issued Thursday evening said the charges against Priem and Collins "relate directly to events leading to Sylar Newton's death while in their custody."
Priem, 36, was arrested Dec. 7 on three felony counts involving a minor in a drug offense.
The young boy was found dead in a wash in August, weeks after his family reported him missing from a northern Arizona campsite.
According to Sylar Newton's biological mother, Charity Newton, she was going through a difficult time in her life when she turned over her son to Priem who already had a son and a daughter. She had hoped that Priem would adopt her son.
Sylar Newton was staying at the campground with Priem and her family when he was reported missing.
Throughout the investigation, Priem maintained that the young boy had wandered off on his own.
Weeks later, a distant relative of the toddler who had been searching for the boy called authorities to say he had spotted something in the bottom of a wash near the campsite. DNA tests confirmed it was Sylar Newton.
Priem remains at the Camp Verde Detention Center on $300,000 bond and Collins was booked into the Coconino County Jail.
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
August 11, 2010 - Sylar Newton Update: Skeletal Remains Believed to be Missing Arizona ToddlerAugust 3, 2010 - Sylar Newton, Missing Arizona 2-Year-Old, Likely Dead, Says Sheriff