Police find missing child in custody case safe with mother near Bloomington

A two-year search for a child who disappeared from Mooresville with his mother and her boyfriend in the midst of a custody battle ended Tuesday afternoon when they were located at a house in northern Monroe County.

Investigators had tracked 31-year-old Deborah Bryan, her now 5-year-old son, and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Caleb Blevins, to a house in the 8300 block of North Fox Hollow Road. Police obtained a search warrant to enter the house and found the three there, police said.

The child was safe and turned over to the Department of Child Services. Bryan was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant from Morgan County for violating a custody order by concealing the child. There's also a Marion County warrant for her arrest stemming for the couple's 2021 divorce when she violated a judge's order by not bringing the boy to a court hearing in August of 2022.

Court records reflect a contentious relationship between the parents. Police said the boy was last seen on July 20, 2022, two days after his father's lawyer field an emergency change of custody petition in the Marion County divorce case.

During a child custody hearing in August 2022, the father's lawyer told the judge he and his client didn't know where the then 3-year-old boy was. Judge Marie Kern ordered Deborah Bryan to appear in court with the child in two days. When she didn't comply, a warrant with a $2,500 cash bond was issued for the mother's arrest.

The next day, police issued a Silver Alert seeking information on the whereabouts of the boy and Bryan's boyfriend, Caleb Blevins, whose family had reported him missing. The alert said they were with Bryan and asked people to be on the lookout for her silver 2020 Toyota SUV.

Mooresville Police Chief Kerry Buckner said he gave Bryan every opportunity to come forward and show that her son and Blevins were safe, to no avail. Three months ago, he sought help from the Indiana State Police, and credits detectives there for locating the missing child.

Buckner said the investigation isn't over, and that charges could be filed against "anyone who had a hand assisting" Bryan in eluding authorities and hiding her son.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.