New Jersey mother arrested after missing teen found in basement crawl space
A New Jersey mother was arrested on obstruction charges after her 17-year-old son, reported missing, was found hiding in her basement crawl space two days later.
Teen located in crawl space 44 hours after disappearance report
A 48-year-old New Jersey woman was arrested after her teenage son, reported missing by his father, was discovered by detectives hiding in the basement crawl space of her home, NBC News reports.
Jennifer Buckley, of East Brunswick, was taken into custody at approximately 3:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday on suspicion of obstruction of administration of law, East Brunswick Police Lt. Jason Fama said in a statement.
The boy's father, Matthew Buckley, had called East Brunswick police at 7:47 p.m. on Tuesday after his 17-year-old son failed to arrive at his residence. The teenager had been scheduled to be dropped off at around 6 p.m. that evening but never appeared.
Jennifer Buckley told police her son was not at her home and expressed concern that he might be a danger to himself. Her ex-husband, however, said he had little doubt about where the boy actually was.
"Honestly, I wasn't too worried," Matthew Buckley, 50, told NBC News. "I knew she was pulling some BS like she always does."
During the search, detectives identified several discrepancies in the information they had gathered. Matthew Buckley also flagged a move by his ex-wife that he found suspicious: she had emailed the teenager's high school requesting academic records while the boy was officially listed as missing.
"If your kid's missing, why are you going to email the high school about anything?" he said.
Detectives returned to Jennifer Buckley's residence on Thursday afternoon for a follow-up search and located the juvenile concealed inside the basement crawl space, police confirmed. The boy was found approximately 44 hours after his father had filed the missing persons report.
Jennifer Buckley did not respond to messages left at publicly listed phone numbers.
East Brunswick Police Chief Frank LoSacco said in a statement that officers treat every missing juvenile report as a priority, particularly when concerns about the child's safety are raised. He commended the officers and detectives involved in locating the teenager.
LoSacco also addressed the broader implications of the case. "Providing false or misleading information to law enforcement undermines those efforts and unnecessarily diverts officers and resources away from members of our community who may need immediate police assistance," he said.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)