Detroit Toddler, 3, Found Safe Hours After Alleged Kidnapping

DETROIT, MI — A Detroit toddler was found safe inside a vehicle parked at an abandoned house on the 1900 block of Biltmore Street, about four miles from where he was allegedly kidnapped Thursday morning, and his alleged abductor has been arrested, according to multiple media reports.

Michael Grayson, 19, is accused of kidnapping Marvie Gardner, 3, from a home on the 19300 block of Winston Street, near Telegraph Road and Grand River Avenue. It’s unclear how the boy ended up in the vehicle, and whether Grayson had been driving it.

Grayson and his girlfriend had been visiting the home with their child, according to police. They got into an argument and she took their child and left, which angered Grayson, police said. At one point, according to reports, he brandished a knife, but others in the house were able to calm him down. Grayson spent the night at the home and at some point took Marvie, the son of Latoya Spears, who lived at the house.

Spears reported her son missing about 5:30 a.m. Thursday after walking up to find he wasn’t sleeping next to her, nor was he anywhere in the house. The Detroit Free Press reported that Marvie’s mother, Latoya Spears, found a note that read: “Get my baby!! Will contact. Done play’n’ Let’s play.”

While her son was still missing, Spears told the Detroit Free Press that she had a message for Grayson: “Michael, I promise you, do not hurt my baby, You need to return him now. ... You holding my baby hostage until yours come up. I don't have no part of that.”

Speaking with reporters, Spears said: “I don’t know what’s going on or what y’alls situation is. But you’re taking away my baby in the midst of it, and he’s only 3. He’s innocent.”

Before he was returned, Spears collapsed and had to be rushed to a Detroit hospital for treatment, WXYZ-TV reported.

Marvie was found in the vehicle around 1:45 p.m. in “good condition, he’s healthy,” Detroit Police Officer Jennifer Moreno told The Detroit News.

Kim Craig, a reporter for the TV station, informed the family that Marvie had been found and was safe.

“Hallelujah!” one family member shouted.

“Give him the glory!” added another.

“You can breathe now,” another family member said to the boy’s grandmother, Yolanda Burnett, who had fretted throughout most of the morning about the boy’s safety.

It’s unclear what led police to the abandoned house and van. It’s also unclear what led authorities to Grayson, who was taken into custody around 2:40 p.m. in the area of Seven Mile and Ryan roads.

Deputy Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald told The Detroit News that Grayson is on probation on a Macomb County charge, but said his criminal history is “nothing we want to report at this point.”

Police said the van that was allegedly used in the abduction, a 1999 purple Plymouth Voyager, is registered to Dwayne Ecklund, 59, who lives down the street from from the site of the abduction. Ecklund noticed his van missing about 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

When his van was recovered, Ecklund told The Detroit News that he was was happy with the outcome.

“That can be replaced,” he said of his vehicle. “A baby can’t. We’re sure glad they found him.”

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