Mayport Grandma Slain: Grandson Detained Trying To Enter Canada

JACKSONVILLE, FL — A 15-year-old boy sought in connection with the death of his grandmother was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as he tried to enter Canada from the Buffalo, New York area. The body of Kristina French was found in a shallow grave in the teen's backyard near Jacksonville, Florida, officials said on Friday. An autopsy is planned to identify her.

Officials began searching for the boy and his 53-year-old grandmother on Wednesday after they didn't pick up his father from the airport. The father was on vacation with his girlfriend, and his mother, French, was watching her grandson.

When the father returned to his home in Neptune Beach, he found it had been ransacked. His mother's home in nearby Mayport was also ransacked. Weapons were missing from both homes and the grandmother's 2015 Dodge Dart disappeared.

The father is a corrections officer for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, officials said at the news conference.

Ron Lendvay, a director of investigations and homeland security for the sheriff's office, said surveillance footage from a gas station in south-central Pennsylvania picked up the image of the teen and Dodge Dart on Thursday afternoon. The sheriff's office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are working with the Neptune Beach Police Department on the case.

Lendvay said a warrant was issued for the teen's arrest on an auto theft charge.

The boy's mother, Carrie Campbell-Mott, said in a statement they were "relieved he is safe and in custody."

"No matter what, [he] is our child and we love him and are standing by him to help in any way. We want to find out what happened to Kristina and we need time for that to happen," she said.

By FREIDA FRISARO, Associated Press

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