The Mount Vernon Police Department has located a 5-year-old boy it believes was taken from the area in late November by his foster mother and another woman.
According to a news release from the Mount Vernon Police Department, the boy and the two women were traced to Thai Binh, Vietnam.
On Wednesday, the boy was secured by U.S. Diplomatic Security Service personnel from the U.S. consulate in Hanoi. He arrived in Seattle on Thursday morning.
The two women accused of taking him, foster mother Amanda Dinges and her mother Amber Dinges, are known to be in Vietnam but are not in custody, according to the release.
Police will continue to look for the Dingeses, and extradite them back to the United States. They face charges of second-degree kidnapping in Skagit County Superior Court.
According to the release, the investigation included interviews with associates and family of Amber and Amanda Dinges, as well as data collected from about 25 search warrants.
Police initially responded Nov. 28 to the 1600 block of North 26th Street on a call regarding custodial interference, according to the release.
The reporting party, Child Protective Services, expressed concern that the boy had not been in school since Nov. 21 and had missed a medical appointment.
Police determined that Amanda Dinges had disconnected her phones and vacated her last known address. It was determined she had fled the area.
“Up to this point Amanda Dinges had been a foster parent in good standing with CPS,” according to an affidavit filed in Skagit County Superior Court.
Staff at Harriet Rowley Elementary School — the school the boy attended — told police they received an email from Amanda Dinges on Nov. 21 stating the boy would be missing the week for Thanksgiving travel.
A neighbor told police she saw Amanda Dinges and Amber Dinges selling their car to two men in the apartment parking lot on Nov. 18.
On Nov. 19, the neighbor said she saw the Dingeses leaving belongings in the hallway for neighbors to have and walking quickly with the child, talking to the child about leaving.
The investigation into the whereabouts of the boy and the two women was conducted by Mount Vernon police, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Diplomatic Security Service.
