News Summary

DAYTON — A 9-year-old boy who had been missing since early Monday morning was found at a service station on Main Street just before midnight, Lt. John Huber of the Dayton police said.

And the boy's mother was arrested on charges that she took the child without authorization in an attempt to extort money from the boy's father, Huber said.

King Turner, who lives with his grandparents on Prescott Avenue, apparently did not catch a school bus Monday morning and could not be found all day, police said.

Huber said when King Turner didn't show up at school as expected, school authorities called his grandparents. By 12:30 p.m. Monday officers and family members spread out to search through the neighborhood and areas where the boy might have gone.

At about 3:30 p.m., Huber said the boy's father, whose name was not released, received a call demanding a ransom for the child's return. "He was with police officers at the time the call came in, but he chose to leave the house to try to take care of things without telling the officers where he was going," Huber said.

Huber said the father was out of contact with authorities for two or three hours before police reached him by mobile phone. At that point, the father told investigators about the ransom demand.

Huber said police considered the situation extremely dangerous for the child, so they took information on the apparent abduction to local media with a request that the story be included in 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. television newscasts.

Huber said a teacher at a local school where King Turner's stepbrother attends classes saw a newscast and called authorities to say she had seen King earlier in the day with his mother. Huber said police at that time began focusing their attention on finding Allie V. Lander, 32, the boy's mother.

At about the same time, Huber said Lander's boyfriend realized she wasn't authorized to have the child in her custody and argued with her about it. Huber said the woman who had the child at a residence in Harrison Twp. put the boy outside on Main Street, and he walked to a service station at North Main Street and Fountain Avenue where he called for help shortly before midnight.

"We're looking at the issue of putting a 9-year-old child on the street after 11 o'clock as possible child endangerment," Huber said.

Huber said Lander was booked on charges of kidnapping and extortion, but other charges might be added later.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2395 or jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com.