Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 06/26/2014 8:22:29 PM PDT by cripplecreek
DETROIT, MI -- Detroit police have arrested Monique Dillard-Bothuell, the stepmother of 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell V, on a probation violation; and Child Protective Services removed two children, 4 and 10 months, from his father's Detroit townhouse Thursday, Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens confirms.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged Dillard-Bothuell with illegally carrying a concealed firearm and purchasing a pistol without a permit in 2013. She pleaded guilty to the illegal purchase charge and the illegal carrying charge was dismissed, Wayne County Circuit Court records show.
After an 11-day search that began when Charlie's father, 45-year-old Charlie Bothuell IV, reported his son missing the night of June 14, investigators located the boy alive and well barricaded in the basement of his father's Lafayette Park townhouse east of downtown Detroit.
Bothuell, who was eager to speak with media as recently as Wednesday morning, clammed up hours later after Charlie was located. He has not returned several calls or text messages from MLive requesting comment. Similarly, his attorney, Detroit-based Mark Magidson, has not returned multiple MLive requests for comment.
Police on Thursday said Charlie had been placed with his biological mother who lives in Detroit after spending a night in the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Bothuell IV learned about the discovery of his missing son in his basement Wednesday while conducting a live interview with HLN's Nancy Grace. He responded with shock and disbelief.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said investigators, who had searched the townhouse at least three times prior, found the boy barricaded in the basement behind boxes and a large storage drum.
"There no way he could have erected makeshift area of concealment," Craig said. "It would be hard for me to sit here and tell you that someone didn't know that Charlie was there."
Bothuell, who hugged a news reporter and at least one detective, said he thought his son was dead and called it "absurd and wrong" to imply he knew his son was in the basement.
"The police and the FBI have been through that house probably about six times since the beginning ... so we know at various points he wasn't there," Bothuell's attorney said Wednesday. "They brought dogs in there and they brought bloodhound dogs in there and they couldn't find him, but they found him today.
"We believe that he was in the neighborhood all along and he returned today and police apparently got wind of that ... If he had been there he couldn't have hidden that well."
Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody told CNN investigators found bloody clothing in the home but it didn't appear the boy, who smiled at police and had cereal and soda nearby, was being held captive.
It's not clear what area of the basement police located the 12-year-old in, but the home is part of a town house complex with units that each have basement access to a communal hallway leading outside.
Craig said, while the search was underway, Bothuell submitted to a lie detector test and the results were inconclusive. Craig said Bothuell's wife refused to take a polygraph test.
Detroit police say Charlie's father, a registered nurse who also operates a personal injury claims case management business, has not been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.
I'm still curious about where the blood came from.
people used to care about children....no wonder we can so heartlessly abort babies without a second thought...
I read the boy may have been escaping harsh physical discipline, harsh enough to leave residual tiny pools of blood. I think the dad is talking to the press way too much. He looks Nigerian, not like the average American black man.
Who is we? Not many here think like that
I think the father is more middle to upper middle class than most blacks in Detroit but I didn’t notice an accent. I believe the step mother is white.
I think the kid just found the safest thing to do in Detroit. Hide out where no one can find you. Especially from an evil stepmother with a gun.
I think the legalized aborting preceded the explosion of abuse. If you can kill it in the womb because because it’s inconvenient you can abuse and neglect a born child if it is inconvenient. Quite the opposite of how abortion was sold as “every child a wanted child.”
I don’t know about the dogs, if the child lived in the home how could the dogs find him? His scent would already be everywhere, so that just doesn’t make sense to me.
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