Sunday update: LaShanda Wilder and Johnna Lowe are in custody, WSYX reports. The two women were wanted after investigators found Wilder’s 9-year-old son dead in the attic of their home. No further information has been released.
Original story:
Police in Ohio have issued an arrest warrant for a Columbus woman and her girlfriend, following the discovery of a deceased 9-year-old boy.
On Friday, 32-year-old LaShanda Wilder reported her son, Martonio Wilder, missing at around noon. Wilder said he had been missing since Thursday night at about 9:30 p.m., when he disappeared into the neighborhood, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Columbus police subsequently deployed a helicopter to where the child was last seen, around Olmstead and St. Clair Avenue in Columbus. A missing person statement issued Friday indicated the child was ” “endangered.”
On Friday evening, a boy’s body was found in the Wilders’ family home, according to Police Chief Elaine Bryant. Police believe the body to be Martonio’s, but an official identification is pending.
Police initially searched the home and found nothing. K-9 cadaver dogs were then used and found the body at around 6:20 p.m. in the attic. He had been placed in a trash bag, police said.
Investigators are calling the death suspicious, but did not release how the child died, according to 10 WBNS.
Once the cadaver dogs were brought in, Wilder and her girlfriend Johnna Lowe, 33, left the home with LaShanda’s two other boys, King Wilder, 3 and Mikhael Simon, 9.
An AMBER alert was issued for both King and Mikhael, who were later found safe at a relative’s house.
Columbus police are searching for Wilder and Lowe after warrants ertr issued for an obstruction of justice. They reportedly haven’t contacted the police concerning the children, despite police attempts to reach them.
Anyone with information regarding this incident or the whereabouts of the women is urged to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-8477 (TIPS).
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[Featured image: Martonio Wilder/Columbus Division of Police]
