• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular

Death of boy tied to mother, boyfriend, police say

Adjust font size:

GADSDEN, Alabama (CNN) -- Police believe the mother of a 5-year-old boy and her boyfriend staged his abduction -- which led to an Amber Alert -- to cover up his death as a result of "physical abuse and trauma," Sheriff James Hayes said Tuesday.

The body of Geontae Glass was found early Tuesday in his mother's car at her boyfriend's apartment in Rainbow City, outside Gadsden, Hayes said.

The mother, Shalinda Glass, and her boyfriend, Kevin Andre Towles, have been arrested but charges have not been filed. That is the next step, said Hayes, sheriff of Etowah County.

"We believe the evidence is going to show that these two -- in different acts, in different roles in the tragedy -- caused the death of this young fellow," Hayes said at a news conference.

Police believe the 5-year-old was dead when Glass and Towles staged the fake abduction at a gas station in Albertville, about 20 miles north of Rainbow City.

On Monday, Glass told police she left her son sleeping in the back seat of her car with the engine running and went inside the gas station's convenience store with her 7-year-old daughter when an unknown man got out of a pickup truck and stole her car with her son inside, according to media reports.

That prompted an Amber Alert, which was canceled early Tuesday after police discovered it was a "hoax," Hayes said.

Police believe the man who took Glass' car was Towles, Hayes said. Early Tuesday, police found the mother's car and Towles' pickup truck inside a locked garage at Towles' residence in Shady Grove, about 10 miles south of Albertville.

The boy's body was inside the mother's car, police said.

The Amber Alert helped police crack the case, Hayes told The Associated Press, because it might have prevented the suspects from disposing of Glass' car.

Glass and Towles were arrested at her apartment in Rainbow City, about 15 miles away.

"We do expect others to be arrested, how many we don't know," Hayes said.

District attorneys from Etowah and Marshall counties are considering which charges to file in which counties. Police found an "eight-ball" of cocaine (one-eighth ounce), more than $33,000 in cash, an AK-47 and a 30-round clip of ammunition at Towles' residence, Hayes said.

Hayes told the AP that Towles had several residences, and evidence discovered at an Albertville house led them to the Etowah County residence.

"We believe this is what he thought was his safe house, where nobody knew where he was," Hayes said.

"We believe there was the intent to cause the death which would give the rise to a homicide or capital murder charge, if circumstances pan out," said Etowah District Attorney Jimmy Harp.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mom, boyfriend staged dead boy's abduction, police say Police believe the mother of a 5-year-old boy and her boyfriend staged his abduction -- which led to an Amber Alert -- to cover up his death as a result of ...

---

• Bush gets emotional about son Jeb
• Missing boy, 5, found dead
• House postpones drilling vote
• 'Tiffany's' Hepburn dress: $807K
• NYC bans restaurant trans fats

• Gates agrees U.S. not winning
• Bush gets early word on Iraq report
• Offshore drilling bill abruptly pulled
• Trans fats banned at NYC restaurants
• Russia won't extradite spy poisoning suspects

• Drunk baby an 'honest mistake' (1:38)
• Shana to the rescue (1:48)
• Stranded mom, kids safe (1:52)
• Tow trucks steal cars? (5:44)
• Now In The News (Updated: 1:36 p.m. ET)