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Filed under: Divorce & Custody, In The News, Weird But True
Richard Chekevdia, right, poses with his father Michael Chekevdia in August of 2007. Credit: Chekevida Family/AP
An abducted boy at the center of a heated custody fight was found in a secret room at his grandmother's house, where his mother allegedly hid him for the past two years.
According to "The Early Show," Richard "Ricky" Chekevdia was in good health when he wasfound behind a false wall in the Southern Illinois home of his grandmother, Diane Dobbs. Ricky, who will be 7 on Sept. 14, had been missing since November 2007.
The boy's father, Michael Chekevdia, told The Chicago Tribune that he was thrilled to learn that his son was alive and well.
"Two years? You have no idea," Chekevdia, a 48-year-old former police officer who's a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois National Guard, told The Chicago Tribune on Saturday. "I've lost sleep. I've lost weight. I've gained weight. I wouldn't wish this on anybody."
Just before Ricky and his mother, 30-year-old Shannon Wilfong, disappeared, Chekevdia was granted temporary custody of his son. He told "The Early Show" that he has always suspected that Dobbs was hiding the boy and his mother in Dobbs' Benton, Ill. home.
Ricky and Wilfong, have been living in a hideaway roughly 5-feet-by-12-feet and about the height of a washing machine. Wilfong has been charged with felony child abduction and her mother, Dobbs, has been charged with aiding and abetting.
According to "Good Morning America," Dobbs said that she helped her daughter hide Ricky to protect him from his father. Authorities, she said, failed to investigate allegations of sexual abuse leveled by Ricky's mom.
"We were on our own and we had to do what we had to do and that was make sure our grandson was safe," Dobbs said, adding that the crawl spaces were there when she bought the house 14 years ago.
"I was investigated three times, and I complied with everybody's desires and wishes in those investigations, and every one of those investigations were unfounded," Mike Chekevdia told "Good Morning America."
Dobbs had been released on $1,000 bail, but according to "Good Morning America," she was arrested again on Sept. 7 on charges of harassing a witness.
And how is Ricky? In great spirits, according to his rescuers. "Surprisingly," Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Stan Diggs told "The Today Show," "Ricky is in very good spirits. For someone who's been isolated in that house with no other outside beings, he's a very social, very polite, very talkative little boy."
Ricky is currently in the custody of the state, but a southern Illinois judge told CBS News that the goal is to reunite father and son. Judge Kyle Vantrease set a Nov. 23 court date for the custody issue, and he added that Chekevdia will likely have several visits with the boy until that time.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
9-09-2009 @ 8:49PM
Shevonne said...I can't imagine a mother doing this unless she was really trying to protect her son. I really hope I am wrong.
Reply
9-09-2009 @ 10:08PM
denise said...How many movies and books are about an abusive spouse that is also a police officer? As a mother, i would never force my child to live that way unless I was protecting her. I hope the custody issue is looked at very closely.
9-09-2009 @ 10:40PM
Jill said...I don't know what did or didn't happen with the father, obviously, but I do know, I would do ANYTHING if I thought that my child was in danger. Including this.
Reply
9-09-2009 @ 11:03PM
Billie said...Why is it that people almost automatically believe the mother? There are thousands of cases where the mother accuses the father (and coaches the children to do the same) out of vengance. This man was investigated three times and complied with all of the investogations. The laws state innocent until proven guilty. He was not proven guilty, the mother and grandmother, however, were caught breaking the law and most of these posts are sympathetic to them. Hopefully, none of you are a judge.
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 12:11AM
Etoy said...I think you are right about innocent until proven guilty, but I will say this you hear the stories of things being over looked because he is/was a man of the law. I do hope that is not the case here. But also you do hear of parents going through custody battles and cant bare the thought of losing their child and they run and then throw up abuse. This is a sad case that needs to be carefully looked into very closely. But I am glad to read the child is doing good after all that.
Reply
10-01-2009 @ 3:21PM
deanne said...i do belive that some mother would lie to win a custdy battle my step daughters mother told a juge i hit her little girl. just because shes scared of loseing her meal ticket. so i do belive she could be lying.
9-10-2009 @ 10:16AM
Karen said...The story I read said that the boy lived in the house and roamed freely on the property and was only HIDDEN in the wall - not that he LIVED there.
I tend to side with the mother because I just do not think that most people carry vengence to the point of hiding for two years. She may be wrong, but I suspect she TRULY BELIEVES that her child was abused.
Reply
9-14-2009 @ 8:40AM
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9-14-2009 @ 8:52AM
Herman said...I think that after the first downhill, the boy was not scared at all. He seemed to be having the time of his life.
My wife of 51 years will not ride a roller coaster. I dont know if she ever rode one before we married, but I know I havent been able to get her on one since we married.
Reply
9-14-2009 @ 11:01AM
SARAH BROWN said...as a parent i would do anything to proctect my children or grandchildren..what this mother put this child and father through is unforgiveable..what about school and friends..she stole two years of that little boys life..the grandmother is just as guilty and they both should be charged with kidnapping...they should be locked in a small dark room for the rest of their natural lives....i am the mother of three grown sons and one eight year old grandson...my son and his ex were recently involved in a custody dispute...she wanted to relocate for maine to texas with the child...the court said NO..so in maine she stays...she did not run off and hide the child in a closet....the courts are there for a reason....to protect the best intrerest of the child..
Reply