14 DAY TRIAL // Two women from Texas have been convicted for kidnapping a boy and keeping him hidden for eight years.
Krystle Tanner and her mother Gloria Walker took 8-month-old Miguel Morin from Houston in 2004, Delaware Online reports.
While Tanner has also been convicted for injuring the child, Walker has been found guilty of reckless injury to a child.
As the pair are awaiting sentencing, 27-year-old Tanner is facing 20 years in prison. A San Augustine jury will vote whether or not to award 51-year-old Walker a life-in-prison sentence.
Tanner was a friend of Morin’s birth mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, at the time of the kidnapping. She was also a neighbor of the family’s living in the same apartment building, and babysat for the child.
Tanner and her mother left town with Morin, switching homes in Central and East Texas. In order to avoid detection, they never enlisted Morin in school.
KHOU details that the child’s name has been changed several times. When he suffered a leg injury, Tanner was forced to take him to a hospital. She was prompted for his birth name and social security number, but could not provide either of them.
Blood tests conducted at a clinic in April 2010 showed traces of marijuana in his system. The evidence led to Tanner and Walker being arrested in March 2012.
Joseph and Juanita Aguillard, having Morin’s other four siblings in their care, were awarded custody of the young boy. He joined Destiny, Fernando, Mariah and Raghim, and was gradually introduced to his biological parents.
"The CPS investigation was conducted on Krystle Tanner concerning an allegation or report of negligence supervision of the children and perhaps physical abuse of this unknown male child that was reportedly living under her household," described Gary Cunningham, Chief Deputy for San Augustine County Sheriff's department, according to KTRE.