Melissa S. Banister, 35, was in the Montgomery County Jail when police said Garland Banister took their daughter at 4:30 p.m. Saturday from the Helwig Drive home in Huber Heights where Chloe was staying with her grandparents.
Jeff Ensor said his granddaughter was abducted after Banister unexpectedly flew into town, rented a car and showed up at their house. Banister said he intended to take his daughter back to Texas with him, Ensor said, and became agitated when the Ensors told him he wasn’t allowed to have contact with the child.
Garland Banister did not have custody of his daughter, and there was a protection order in place for Chloe and her mother. Huber Heights police said Banister has a history of attempted murder.
A background check revealed Garland Banister’s past included a first-degree murder charge in 1996 in New Mexico. He is on probation, records show.
When police in Indiana found Banister, he was outside his rented black 2015 Chrysler 200, talking on the phone, reportedly to detectives in Huber Heights, who alerted Brownsburg police to his whereabouts.
“We received information he was in our Brownsburg Walmart parking lot,” said Barrett. “He was outside the car speaking on the phone. … He went peacefully and politely.”
Banister is in the Hendricks (Ind.) County Jail. He was arrested on a warrant for child abduction issued by Huber Heights police, which Barrett said is a full extradition warrant so police can bring him back to Ohio.
The child’s mother, Melissa Banister, has been held on $10,000 bond since Thursday on suspicion of child endangerment and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanor charges filed by Vandalia police. She is due in court Thursday, online jail records show.
Chloe remained in custody Sunday of the Indiana Department of Child Protective Services in Hendricks County. Although she was staying with her grandparents, they only had verbal permission to care for the girl, Barrett said.
The Ensors have been working with authorities to bring the 3-year-old home.
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