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Published on Friday, March 19, 2004
in the Tampa BayNews9.com

Boy found safe after Amber Alert

A 17-month-old boy abducted Sunday night in Manatee County was rescued safely hours later in Orange County after a statewide Amber Alert prompted a motorist on Interstate 4 to call authorities Monday morning.

Three people were arrested, including the man accused of kidnapping the boy from his grandmother's home in Bradenton.

Lt. Anthony DiPace of the Florida Highway Patrol said a motorist called authorities after spotting the suspects' car, a tan-colored 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis bearing Florida tag J49-ABH, on I-4 near the Osceola Parkway about 7:22 a.m.

Seven minutes later Troopers Scott Keith and Wanda Diaz stopped the vehicle on Sand Lake Road near I-4 and detained Nick Hargraves, 24. Hargraves told authorities that the youngster, Deshaun Milner, was at the Rosen Centre Hotel, 9840 International Drive. Authorities found Deshaun with Byron Houston, 25, and Marcus Houston, 18, in a second-floor room.

Deshaun "was very happy and very cheerful," said Steve Jones, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "He was in very good spirits, and he looks like he was having a good time."

Byron Houston was arrested on charges of cocaine possession and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Marcus Houston and Hargraves were arrested on charges of cocaine trafficking after troopers found two bags of cocaine in the car. The Houston brothers face additional kidnapping charges in Manatee County.

Manatee sheriff's officials said Byron Houston took the child at about 10:40 p.m. Sunday because he claimed he was owed money by the boy's mother. Houston is not related to the child, they said.

Trooper Kim Miller, an FHP spokeswoman, said Deshaun was found in a filthy diaper and a white T-shirt. He was to be reunited with his family in Bradenton on Monday afternoon. Miller said she fed the boy Trix cereal and milk at her house before he was taken to the FHP station to wait for Manatee authorities to pick him up.

Miller said a Tampa-area woman who commutes to Walt Disney World heard the Amber Alert on the radio and then saw an electronic highway sign before calling authorities with information about the suspects' car.

"This is how it's supposed to work," Miller said. "We got the public who called us because we can't be everywhere at all times."