ELIZABETHTOWN — A noncustodial parent who took a 4-month-old girl from a Bladenboro daycare Monday evening has surrendered and given the child to Bladen County lawmen.
An Amber Alert had been issued for Lonnisha Renee Askew. A news release from the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office says Juanita Renee Askew, 22, of Whiteville, took the child about 5 p.m.; there was a man with her at the time.
The Bladen County Sheriff’s Office said it worked with other law enforcement agencies nonstop until a Tuesday afternoon exchange at the Lumberton bus station put the baby in the hands of Bladen deputies. Juanita Askew was arrested; the person driving her to the bus station was first arrested, then questioned, and ultimately released.
A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Offrice said lawmen “did not have probable cause to sustain our arrest.” Deputies took him to his home in Hoke County.
Juanita Askew is charged with abduction of a child. Bail was set at $500,000. The man with her at the time of the abduction was identified Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said through a spokesman. Lonnie Williams, 29, of 1309 Clyde Norris Road in Tabor City, is wanted for abduction of a child.
Sheriff Jim McVicker said family members helped convince the mother to surrender. He said law enforcement agencies working on the case included sheriff’s offices from Columbus and Robeson counties, the Lumberton Police Department, the State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.
The mother was not allowed unsupervised visits with the child, a news release said. She had been labeled dangerous in a news release from the Bladen Sheriff’s Office, with “violent tendencies and abrupt mood swings.”