Jo-Jo Morales, Missing Miami Boy, found safe in Canada – NECN

A 6-year-old boy who had been missing from Miami, Florida for more than two months has been found safely in Canada, authorities said.

Jorge “Jo-Jo” Morales, who has autism and was reported missing to the Miami-Dade Police Department on August 27, was found “unharmed” Sunday in Moncton, New Brunswick, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) wrote on Twitter.

The FBI had offered a $10,000 reward asking for the public’s help in locating Jo-Jo, who investigators believed he was in Maine or eastern Canada.

Police had alleged that Jo-Jo’s father, Jorge Morales, 45, picked up his son from his mother for a visit and then disappeared with Jo-Jo and Lilliam Peña Morales, 68, who is Jorge’s mother and Jo – Jo’s paternal grandmother.

New Brunswick RCMP did not identify Jorge Morales or Lilliam Peña Morales by name, but said Sunday the 45-year-old man and 68-year-old woman wanted in the investigation were arrested without incident and were currently in custody. The man was taken into custody in a business on Plaza Boulevard in Moncton, while the woman was arrested on Village-Des-Cormier Road in Saint-Paul.

There was no word on the charges against the couple, but officials have said in the past that the duo would face “custody interference” charges if caught.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a tipster spotted Jo-Jo and her father at a Walmart in Moncton, Canada, after seeing the media coverage, investigators said. The non-profit organization has confirmed that Jo-Jo’s father and grandmother have been taken into custody.

Police did not provide further details but thanked the public for their assistance in the case.

Police say the boy, who lives with autism, was taken by his father to his mother’s home in Miami.

The group had not been seen since August 27, although investigators said surveillance video showed Jo-Jo and her father walking in and out of a Walgreens store in Houlton, Maine on August 29. . The video followed the discovery of a GMC Yukon believed to be linked to the case near the Canadian border in Maine, as well as police searches in the Maine woods, other police investigations in New Brunswick, Canada, and to a hunter in Maine discovering personal items that police say are also linked to the case.

Joe Carrillo, a Florida-based private investigator who worked with Jo-Jo’s mother, Yanet Concepcion, and Maine-based private investigator Jennifer Dorman to find Jo-Jo, said the research they conducted with dogs suggested the family had crossed the border into Canada. They had worked to spread the word, letting hunters in the area know that they were on the lookout for anyone with camps or cabins in eastern Canada.