A 4-month-old baby boy is back home with his family 24 hours after they reported him missing.
Nazir Morea Alston was reported missing Monday from the 300 block of Raleigh Street SE. Alston's family said the baby's 16-year-old mother let a friend hold her son. Next thing she knew, her son and friend were nowhere in sight.
"She gave her friend permission to hold the baby. We didn't know where the baby was at," a family member told News4.
Tuesday morning, crews with D.C. Water were called in to search for the child inside storm drains near the home.
A few hours later, the woman who took Alston Monday said she saw on the news he had been reported missing. Lacking a car, she walked to the Metropolitan Police Department's Seventh District just before 11 a.m., with Alston in her arms. Police say the boy was in good health.
The woman told police she didn't know anyone was looking for the child.
"I'm so relieved my baby is back home again where he belongs," Alston's mother said.
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However, family members told conflicting stories of the relationship between the mother and the 18-year-old woman who allegedly took the child.
Alston's grandmother maintains the incident was a kidnapping, even though sources told News4 the woman had persmission to take the child.
"She is a grown woman, she's responsible for her own actions," she said. "She needs to be charged."
However, no one is being charged at this time, and police say they do not consider the incident a kidnapping.
Child and Family Services have been called to ensre the child is in a safe environment.
