Kidnapping cold case solved as boy is found EIGHT YEARS after he disappeared as a baby while his godmother was babysitting
- Miguel Morin was abducted in 2004 when he was eight months old
- His godmother Krystle Tanner has been arrested on suspicion of the crime
- 'We were searching for a ghost,' say police of cold case which closed in 2006
A boy who disappeared as a baby had been found eight years later and is set to be returned to his family.
Eight-month-old Miguel Morin was being cared for by his godmother, Krystle Tanner, at the time of his disappearance in 2004.
This week Tanner, 26, has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping the boy, now aged eight, and Miguel has been taken in to the care of Texas Child Protection Services.
His discovery came as a surprise, since the case was officially abandoned in 2006.
Found: Miguel Morin, left, went missing in 2004 while being babysat by his godmother Krystle Tanner, right
His mother Auboni Champion-Morin has spoken of her joy at Miguel's re-appearance.
She told KPRC: 'Right now, I'm just really anxious to see him, but I know there is a lot of legal stuff I have to do.
'I want to hold him in my arms and let him know who I am. I hope he can feel the same thing I feel for him.'
Ms Champion-Morin, who has five other children, had fallen on hard times in November 2004 when she asked her close friend tanner Tanner to look after Miguel overnight at her apartment in Houston.
When she went to pick him up in the morning, they had both gone, and Tanner's mother claimed they had fled Texas.
Police investigated the case but were unable to track Tanner down, and two years later the case was closed.
However, Ms Champion-Morin says she was never told that authorities were no longer investigating, and found it difficult to get information on the status of the case.
Relief: Auboni Champion-Morin is delighted at the prospect of being reunited with her long-lost son
A police spokesman said the case had disappeared from their databases and they did not even know the child's name.
'It was very difficult because we were essentially searching for a ghost,' he said.
A fresh breakthrough finally came last August, when officials received a complaint about Tanner, according to CNN.
It was reported that she had hit an eight-year-old boy in her care - but child welfare officials were unable to meet with the boy.
She also apparently gave contradictory answers to officials' questions, and changed her story about whether or not the child was her own son.
This prompted the authorities to turn the case over to police, who opened a criminal investigation.
Tanner was arrested in San Augustine, 165 miles from Houston, earlier this week but was reportedly unco-operative and refused to reveal Miguel's whereabouts.
However, yesterday her sister called police and said that the boy was with her, later turning him over to authorities.
Miguel is said to be in good health, and will be re-united with his family after his mother takes a DNA test proving that he is her son.
He is believed never to have attended school, and to have been called names like 'Dirty' by Tanner.
Ms Champion-Morin told KTRK that her friendship with the alleged kidnapper had made the ordeal even tougher.
'I knew this family,' she said. 'It wasn't like, "Hey stranger." No, I knew this family. I spent time with them. We had Thanksgivings and Christmases.'
Although the family will seek counselling to ease Miguel's re-entry into the life from which he was separated as a baby, Ms Champion-Morin is optimistic that he will settle in.
'We love him very much and we never gave up. That's one thing I would never give up.'
