COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Both parents of a boy abandoned in Colerain Township are in jail Tuesday night. Heather Adkins now faces a charge of felony kidnapping after police said she left her son, who is non-verbal and has autism, approximately 75 miles away from their Indiana home.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters upgraded the charge in the case of an Indiana mother accused of abandoning her son in Colerain Township.
Heather Adkins, who was arrested in Kentucky Saturday, now faces a felony kidnapping charge. She’s been in the Scott County Detention Center, though Hamilton County investigators are working to bring her back to the county where they believe she left her son.
An arrest warrant says Adkins drove her son Thomas, who is non-verbal with autism, approximately 75 miles from their Indiana home to another state where he was taken to an unfamiliar, dark, dead-end street. The warrant goes on to say, “The child was then left abandoned at that location, which is in close proximity to a flooded creek, until he was eventually discovered about an hour later wandering a nearby road by passing motorists."
Adkins pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of Fugitive From Another State in front of Scott County Judge Sarah Hays. She is expected back in court for the extradition process March 8.
After the hearing, Adkins said she left her Shelbyville, Indiana home with her three children Thursday. Her car broke down in Colerain Township.
“(Thomas) waited in the car,” Adkins said. “I had him to wait in the car because I ran out of gas, and I had to go forward to get help. But, it was in the middle of the night, and I didn’t have a phone or anything to call for help.”
Days passed before officers caught up with the mother at a Georgetown gas station.
The child’s father, Kevin Adkins, is also in jail for an unrelated case.
“They found him on the side of the road, but what can I do? I’m in here,” said the father.
He’s been in the Shelby County, Indiana jail since Feb. 2, accused of methamphetamine possession and driving under a suspended license.
“I’m worried bad,” Kevin Adkins said. “I can’t sleep. My heads going and going and going. It’s like a ticking time bomb.”
He said his brother contacted police after officers began circulating his son's picture online. Kevin Adkins said his brother helped officers track him in jail. Then, he helped officers find a friend who could locate the mother.
That friend was Crystalyn Davis, who said Adkins showed up at her home around 2 p.m. Thursday asking her to watch two of her sons. Thomas was not with her at that time. Friday night, detectives connected with Davis, who helped contact Adkins.
“A detective had me video chat with her so he could listen in,” Davis said. “She was not making any sense. She was just talking out of her mind, and I’m almost positive she was in a drug-induced psychosis.”
She said the two boys staying with her are in good health and are enjoying their time playing with her children. JFS has custody of Thomas.
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