Boy on Heart Transplant List Found After Being Kidnapped from Hospital
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Pixland/Getty Images(ST. LOUIS) — A boy awaiting a heart transplant was found outside of Chicago after he was taken from a St. Louis hospital by his father, who does not have custody of his son.
An Amber Alert and a SARAA missing child alert were issued for Porter Stone, 5, after he was taken from the hospital by his 33-year-old father, Jeffrey Stone, at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday. The father then called Tiffany Stone, the boy’s mother who has sole custody of him, to inform her that he was taking their son. Tiffany Stone was reportedly at the hospital at the time her son was taken.
Illinois State Police issued a statement Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. ET that they had located the boy along with Jeffrey Stone and the man’s mother, 59-year-old Rhonda Marie Matthews.
Three felony warrants were issued for kidnapping, interfering with custody and endangering the welfare of a child against Jeffery Stone and Matthews. Both Jeffrey Stone and Matthews are now in custody, and the boy has been taken to an area hospital for evaluation.
The boy’s parents are currently separated and, according to the boy’s uncle, a custody battle has been waged between the two.
Porter Stone is next in line for a heart transplant at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, according to ABC News affiliate KSDK. He was reportedly discharged Tuesday afternoon after several days in the hospital, according to officials, so he could be monitored by doctors closer to home in the Kansas City area.
Officials said that Porter, who has been treated over the past several months at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle, left the hospital wearing an IV bag, which continuously infuses medicine into his vein. He was thought to have enough of that for approximately the next 24 hours.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio