The stranger at Sharon Duffey’s front door Thursday morning identified herself as a child welfare worker from Iowa. She said she had a court order to take Duffey’s 2-year-old daughter, Syah.
Duffey is mildly mentally disabled, friends and family say. She’s easily misled.
Duffey threw some things together and kissed Syah goodbye. Then right before the stranger drove away with the brown-eyed toddler in the Mickey Mouse shirt, the woman told Duffey she was actually a friend of Syah’s father, who had never even seen the child.
The dirty white van then sped away and out of tiny East Lynne in Cass County.
Duffey stood alone, watching the van until it disappeared, choking back fear that she had lost Syah forever.
But roughly 10 hours later, the Iowa Highway Patrol spotted the northbound van, rescued Syah and took two adults — the girl’s biological father and the alleged child welfare imposter — into custody. No charges had been filed late Thursday.
Duffey was at the Cass Justice Center in Harrisonville when she learned Syah had been found.
“She was very emotional, very happy,” said Cass County Sheriff’s Cpl. Kevin Tieman.
Duffey and her mother were soon on their way with detectives for a reunion in Iowa.
“The Amber Alert system worked today,” Tieman said. “This was a lot of agencies working together to bring this to a happy resolution.”
The stranger arrived at Duffey’s house about 8:30 a.m. She was described as a heavy-set woman in her late 20s or early 30s.
“She had me sign a piece of paper saying I gave her Syah,” Duffey tearfully said in an interview before her daughter was found. “I know now she fooled me. She wasn’t who she said she was, and now she’s got my little girl.”
Duffey’s mother called police at 10:20 a.m. Investigators quickly learned no court order existed.
“We believe it was a ruse by this woman to get the child,” Tieman said.
Police issued an Amber Alert at 2:30 p.m. after investigating whether it met the standards. They also worked with Iowa authorities to track down the girl’s father, but had not been able to reach him.
The FBI called the Iowa Highway Patrol on Thursday evening because it had information that the girl’s father might be in Mitchellville, a suburb of Des Moines.
Sure enough, officers spotted the white van about 5:45 p.m. and stopped it, about 210 miles north of East Lynne.
Sharon Duffey’s mother, Karrie Ratkewicz, described her daughter as “slow” but good-hearted.
“She loves that baby and knows how to take care of her, but she gets confused easily.”
To reach Donald Bradley, send e-mail to dbradley@kcstar.com. To reach James Hart, send e-mail to jhart@kcstar.com This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
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