Texas infant, Miguel Morin, kidnapped 8 years ago by babysitter Krystal Tanner & her Mom Gloria Walker/Tanner pleads not guilty/Walker sentenced to 38 yrs, Tanner sentenced to 8 yrs

SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas – A boy who was kidnapped as an infant eight years ago is believed to have been found in Texas, according to authorities.
When the boy, Miguel Morin, disappeared in 2004, his former babysitter and godmother, Krystle Rochelle Tanner, was accused of taking him -- but the case went cold in 2006.
Late last summer, child welfare investigators in San Augustine County -- about 150 miles northeast of Houston -- received a complaint that Tanner and her boyfriend were neglecting their two children, according to Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham of the San Augustine Sheriff's Department.
Officials tried to find the older boy. Was he one of the children being neglected? Tanner told authorities different stories about the child: he went by different names and she had been keeping him briefly for a woman that she had met in a park, Cunningham said.
Although sheriff's deputies had no records for the boy and little information to work with, they began investigating it as a missing child's case in January. Neither Child Protective Services nor law enforcement knew about the 2004 Houston kidnapping case at the time because the boy had been removed from the national missing children's database. Why?? If they didn't know about him, why were they asking about him? This is very confusing!
CPS officials recently learned that Tanner was suspected in the 2004 kidnapping, which led authorities to arrest Tanner on Monday.
Tanner was arrested on a kidnapping charge and is in police custody in San Augustine. She is being held without bond.
One of Tanner's relatives led them to the boy but denied knowing that he had been abducted, Cunningham said.
He said the family will likely go through some counseling. The child apparently has never been in school, and one of the names Tanner called him was "Dirty," he said.
Authorities are hoping to reunite him with his mother, Auboni Champion, soon.
"We love him very much and we never gave up," Champion told KTRK-TV.
Upon learning of Tanner's arrest, Champion reportedly said she was "overwhelmed."
"It was like, I knew this family. It wasn't like, hey stranger. No, I knew this family. I spent time with them. We had Thanksgivings and Christmases," Champion told KTRK-TV.

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If she wasn't going to take care of him, why did she take him!?

Texas baby missing for 8 years found, will go home
By ANGELA K. BROWN | Associated Press – 47 mins ago

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas infant who vanished eight years ago will be reunited with his mother after police arrested his former baby sitter who is accused of kidnapping him, authorities said Wednesday.

Krystle Rochelle Tanner, 26, remained jailed without bond in San Augustine, about 200 miles southeast of Fort Worth. She was arrested on a kidnapping charge Monday.

The boy's mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, told Houston television station KPRC that she may be reunited with her son later this week. Authorities said she must first undergo a DNA test, even though they're sure of his identity.

"I want to hold him in my arms and let him know who I am," said Champion-Morin, who lives in Houston. "I hope he can feel the same thing I feel for him."

Tanner, also the baby's godmother, was a suspect when the mother reported her 8-month-old son missing in late 2004. But Tanner's relatives in Houston told police that she and the infant had vanished. The case went cold and was closed in 2006, said Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham of the San Augustine Sheriff's Department.

Late last summer, child welfare investigators in San Augustine County — about 150 miles northeast of Houston — received a complaint that Tanner and her boyfriend were neglecting their two children, Cunningham said.

Officials tried to find the older boy. Tanner told authorities different stories about the child: he went by different names and she had been keeping him briefly for a woman that she had met in a park, Cunningham said.

Although sheriff's deputies had no records for the boy and little information to work with, they began investigating it as a missing child's case in January. Neither Child Protective Services nor law enforcement knew about the 2004 Houston kidnapping case at the time because the boy had been removed from the national missing children's database. Even so, they didn't know his name.

"It was very difficult because we were essentially searching for a ghost," Cunningham told The Associated Press.

CPS officials recently learned that Tanner was suspected in the 2004 kidnapping, which led to Monday's arrest. One of Tanner's relatives led them to the boy but denied knowing that he had been abducted, Cunningham said.

It's too soon to say whether anyone else will be arrested, Cunningham said.

He said the family will likely go through some counseling. The child apparently has never been in school, and one of the names Tanner called him was "Dirty," he said.

CPS officials in Houston did not return calls Wednesday. The AP's attempts to reach Champion-Morin were unsuccessful.

Champion-Morin said that she had done everything to find her child.

"I prayed every night that he was safe, loved and he would come home one day," Champion-Morin said.

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Lisette, I agree with what you posted in red. None of this makes any sense. WHY was he removed from the missing child data base? Why did this Tanner want him if she neglected him and even called him "Dirty"? Makes NO Sense! He was found on a fluke. And, thank God he was!!

I am thinking thank the Lord she didn't kill him.

Now let her pay with HER life- LWOP- for the many lives she destroyed and for all the healing this poor child- who she abused and neglected, among, I am sure, many other things- will have to endure. Possibly for his whole lifetime.

I read somewhere here and it was something like: "Missing/dead toddler stories are all the rage now".
How sad a statement is that???? Especially because it appears to be true.

by Kevin Reece / KHOU 11 News
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 1:03 PM

HOUSTON – DNA test results were released Wednesday in the case of an 8-year-old Houston boy who was allegedly abducted when he was a baby.

A judge said test results for the boy’s mother were not back yet, but that Fernando Morin was proven to be the biological father of the little boy, Miguel Morin.

Miguel’s parents – Fernando and Aboni Champion Morin -- want visitation rights once the results of her tests come in Thursday.
But a CPS psychotherapist warned that the boy, who has the mental development of a kindergartner, could have his life turned upside-down when he’s reintroduced to his biological family.

He believes his name is Jaquan, and that his alleged abductor – his godmother, who’s in jail – is actually his mother.

CPS wants the psychotherapist to ease Miguel into his new reality.

Miguel is also unaware that he has four other siblings.

None of those children lives with Auboni Champion Morin and Fernando Morin.

They live with another couple, Juanita and Joseph Aguillard. The Aguillards say Champion Morin gave her children to them years ago, because she couldn’t handle them. The Aguillards are now the kids’ legal guardians.

Champion Morin would not address her relationship with her four other children when asked by KHOU 11 News Wednesday morning.
"Right now, everything’s a private matter … I’m not going there right now with any of the news," she said.

CPS said they are looking into Champion Morin’s situation with her other children as part of their investigation into the Miguel Morin case.

"That is part of our investigation. And that is something that we are going to present as evidence next Tuesday … about whether there are any concerns about the other children or concerns about just the home itself. Because it’s obviously just not whether or not they’re the parents, but whether he’s going to be safe and OK in this new home," CPS spokesperson Estella Olguin said.

For now, Miguel will stay in a foster home – at least until the next court hearing on March 28, 2012.

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Miguel is also unaware that he has four other siblings.

None of those children lives with Auboni Champion Morin and Fernando Morin.

They live with another couple, Juanita and Joseph Aguillard. The Aguillards say Champion Morin gave her children to them years ago, because she couldn’t handle them. The Aguillards are now the kids’ legal guardians.

Champion Morin would not address her relationship with her four other children when asked by KHOU 11 News Wednesday morning.
"Right now, everything’s a private matter … I’m not going there right now with any of the news," she said.

CPS said they are looking into Champion Morin’s situation with her other children as part of their investigation into the Miguel Morin case.

"That is part of our investigation. And that is something that we are going to present as evidence next Tuesday … about whether there are any concerns about the other children or concerns about just the home itself. Because it’s obviously just not whether or not they’re the parents, but whether he’s going to be safe and OK in this new home," CPS spokesperson Estella Olguin said.

For now, Miguel will stay in a foster home – at least until the next court hearing on March 28, 2012.

Sounds like a good foster home might be the best place for him...If this mother and father "couldn't handle" the other four children, how are they ever going to deal with a child that doesn't even know them as his real parents...Poor child!

Aboni Champion Morin needs to get real and stop acting like the grieving mother. She's the egg donor....period! Doesn't look like she gives a damn about any of her children.
She sure knows how to put on an act when interviewed on tv.

So do I!

APNewsBreak: New arrest in Texas missing boy case
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Auboni Champion Morin waits outside a juvenile courtroom Thursday, March 15, 2012, in Houston. Her son, Miguel Morin vanished eight years ago with his babysitter, has been found safe. The former babysitter, 26-year-old Krystle Rochelle Tanner, was arrested Monday on a kidnapping charge. She was being held in jail in San Augustine, a community about 140 miles northeast of Houston.

By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press
Friday, March 23, 2012

Texas authorities arrested and charged a second woman with kidnapping Friday in the widening case of a Houston boy who disappeared eight years ago and was found earlier this month.

Gloria Walker, 50, was arrested at her home in Manor, east of Austin.

Walker is the mother of Krystle Tanner, who was arrested two weeks ago in San Augustine in East Texas and also charged with the kidnapping of Miguel Morin when he was 8 months old, San Augustine County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Gary Cunningham told The Associated Press.

Cunningham said the arrest warrant was based on information obtained from Tanner.

"We're still looking for any definitive information concerning how Krystle Tanner and her mother, Gloria Walker, came into actual custody of the child," Cunningham told the AP. He said other people also may be sought in the case.

Cunningham said Walker was taken to the Travis County Jail and would be arraigned. He said she was being held under $250,000 bond, and will be transported to San Augustine, where her daughter is being held.

The boy's parents in Houston are seeking to regain custody of Miguel, while authorities are investigating disclosures that the couple gave up guardianship of their four other children.

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Krystle Tanner and her mother, Gloria Walker, for years had successfully concealed the true identity of the boy that authorities say they kidnapped from Houston in 2004 when he was just 8 months old.

They hid him in homes in Central and East Texas, kept him out of school and didn't call him by his given name of Miguel Morin, instead renaming him Jaquan. The boy, knowing nothing of who he really was, called Tanner mother and Walker grandmother.

And their secret might never have been discovered if Tanner's newborn son in April 2010 had not tested positive for marijuana. That prompted an investigation by child welfare officials, who were told by Tanner she had another child.

However, attempts to find that other child, who turned out to be Miguel, would go on for nearly two more years as authorities say Tanner and Walker thwarted their efforts through elaborate lies and by secretly shuttling Miguel between homes.

Tanner, 27, and Walker, 50, who each face charges of kidnapping and injury to a child, pleaded not guilty Friday during their first court appearances since being indicted last month.

During the brief court hearing in San Augustine, the women were appointed attorneys, who didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Tanner and Walker each remained in jail on $250,000 bond. Prosecutors said they hope to try the case sometime in August.

Miguel, now 8 years old, is in foster care as a Houston judge waits to hear next month from therapists on when the boy can be reunited with his parents, who are seeking custody despite allowing their four other children to live with another couple.

Investigators believe that in 2004, Tanner, then 19, wanted a child of her own "very badly," said San Augustine County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham. She lived in the same Houston apartment complex as Miguel and his family, and often baby-sat him.

"Krystle Tanner saw an opportunity, as did her mother, to get this little baby," Cunningham said.

Authorities said that after being taken, Miguel apparently spent much of his time with Walker in a two-story home in Manor, located in the Austin metro area in Central Texas. He also lived with Tanner in a mobile home in San Augustine, a small town nestled in the East Texas woods, about 150 miles northeast of Houston.

During these years, Miguel didn't learn to read or write and never went to school. His long, dark hair, never having been cut, was braided. He was told his birthday was March 26 when it was actually March 1.

The first word of his possible location came in April 2010, when Child Protective Services in San Augustine County began investigating Tanner after marijuana was detected in her newborn son's bloodstream, according to Walker's arrest warrant affidavit. Tanner told CPS she also had a 6-year-old son who lived with her mother in Manor.

Walker denied such a boy existed, and Tanner later recanted her claim.

With no proof of the boy, CPS worked with Tanner, offering parenting classes and other support for her newborn, said CPS spokeswoman Julie Moody.

Nearly a year passed before CPS got another tip, in March 2011, that a half-black, half-Hispanic boy, possibly 5 years old, was living in Walker's home in Manor under harsh conditions, including physical abuse. The boy's description matched Miguel's.

Walker again denied the child's existence, and CPS closed the case in May.

Authorities say Walker brought Miguel to Tanner and he stayed with her until about August, when Walker told her daughter to return him to Manor.

"According to Tanner, upon arriving at Walker's residence, Walker `turned off the lights and would not come outside' but directed Tanner's sister to give her an unspecified amount of cash and instructions to immediately transport the child to (another) sister who resides in Houston," according to the arrest affidavit.

Meanwhile, CPS and the sheriff's office continued investigating Tanner. She changed her description of the boy authorities sought, first referring to him as her brother and later saying he was the son of a woman named "Christy" whom she had met at a park in the nearby town of Center, according to the affidavit.

It wasn't until March 7 that CPS conclusively identified the boy as Miguel. Tanner was arrested March 12 and the next day, one of her sisters called Houston police to say she had the boy.

Cunningham said after her arrest, Tanner claimed she had been brainwashed by her mother into hiding the boy.

Whitney Walker, one of Tanner's sisters who lives in Houston, said Miguel's mother gave the boy to Tanner.

"She said she (Tanner) could have him. She didn't want him," said Whitney Walker, 20.

Authorities in San Augustine County don't believe Miguel was given away.

"I have no doubt that this child was kidnapped," said San Augustine County District Attorney Kevin Dutton.

Miguel's mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, and her husband, Fernando Morin, have four other children, ages 7 to 14, who are living with another couple under an agreement between the two couples, said Champion-Morin's attorney Itze Soliz-Matthews. The attorney would not comment on the arrangement, only saying the Morins are very active in parenting those children and want Miguel back.

"They took her child," she said. "They never had any kind of authority to keep him."

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HOUSTON — A boy who was snatched from his Houston home when he was 8-months-old and moved around Texas for eight years before he was found will be removed from foster care and reunited with his siblings, a judge ruled Wednesday.

State District Judge Mike Schneider ordered that 8-year-old Miguel Morin be placed in the custody of a couple caring for his four siblings, Juanita and Joseph Aguillard. Miguel has been in foster care since authorities found him at the Houston home of his former baby sitter's sister in March. Authorities say Miguel spent most of the time he was kidnapped in East and Central Texas.

Miguel's former baby sitter, Krystle Tanner, and her mother, Gloria Walker, have been charged with kidnapping and injury to a child in his 2004 disappearance. The women have pleaded not guilty and are jailed in San Augustine, about 140 miles northeast of Houston.

Estella Olguin, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services in Houston, said the ultimate goal is for Miguel's parents, Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin, and the Aguillards have joint custody of him "so that Miguel can still have a relationship with his parents and stay with his siblings."

Miguel is expected to be reunited with his siblings by Friday after paperwork is completed, Olguin said. CPS and the boy's parents have declined to say why the Aguillards – friends of the family – have custody of the four other children, citing privacy issues.

Authorities say Tanner snatched Miguel from his home when he was a baby and, along with her mother, concealed the boy's true identity for years, moving him from one home to another to avoid detection. After Tanner's March arrest in the kidnapping, her sister called authorities to say Miguel was staying at her home in Houston.

Miguel's parents will be allowed to visit the boy at the Aguillards' home and have requested that Miguel be allowed to visit them on weekends. CPS officials plan to see the Morins' home before deciding whether to approve the request for weekend visits.

Olguin said everyone involved will meet in mediation before the next court hearing in March to see if they can wrap up the matter.

She said Miguel, who had never gone to school and couldn't read or write when he was found by authorities, has caught up with other students in his second-grade class and is excelling in school.


"Considering his life has really changed as he knew it, he's doing really well," Olguin said.

William Thursland, a court appointed attorney for Miguel, said he wants to see how the boy adjusts to living with the Aguillards before determining what will ultimately happen in his case. But he said he's pleased with Miguel's progress so far.

"He's a very well-adjusted, happy guy," Thursland said. "I think it's gone as well as we could have hoped."

Miguel has been told about the true identity of his parents and his siblings, and he has been having weekly joint therapy sessions with his parents. He also has been visiting his siblings at the Aguillards' home and stayed with them during the Christmas holiday, Joseph Aguillard said.

"He bonded with his brothers and sisters from day one," Juanita Aguillard said. "He loves the family."

Miguel's parents, who live in Houston, said after Wednesday's hearing that they were pleased with the judge's decision.

"I'm happy with everything right now," Champion-Morin said.
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Auboni Champion-Morin, left, laughs with Juanita, right, and Joesph Aguillard after a court hearing regarding Champion-Morin's son Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013, in Houston. A judge in Houston ruled Wednesday that 8-year-old Miguel Morin, a Texas boy who was kidnapped as a baby, should be removed from foster care and given to the Aguillard's, who are caring for his four siblings. The boy has been in foster care since authorities found him in March living in East Texas with his former baby sitter

Raine, for this update. This is Happy news. I am wondering if there w/ever be a trial or how long these idiots w/be in jail.

SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas — An East Texas jury sentenced two women to prison Tuesday after convicting them of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was 8 months old and hiding him for eight years before he was found.

Gloria Walker was sentenced to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently. Her daughter, Krystle Tanner, was sentenced to eight years for kidnapping and eight years for the lesser charge of reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.

Earlier in the day the same jury convicted them in the 2004 disappearance of Miguel Morin, who is now 8. Walker had faced up to life in prison, and Tanner faced 20 years.

"We believe that justice was done on behalf of Miguel," said San Augustine County District Attorney Kevin Dutton.

After the sentences were announced, both women told state District Judge Charles Mitchell they had done nothing wrong, insisting Miguel's mother had given him away.

"Justice is not served. We have not hurt no child. We loved and cared for him," Walker said before she and her daughter were handcuffed and taken away by authorities.

Jurors and attorneys for Tanner, 27, and Walker, 51, declined to comment afterward.

Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments earlier Tuesday that Tanner and Walker neglected Miguel during the eight years they hid him from authorities, denying him appropriate medical care and keeping him out of school.

But defense attorneys countered there was no abduction because the boy's mother sold him to the women and his parents never showed any concern for their son and refused to cooperate with authorities.


The trial was in San Augustine, about 140 miles northeast of Houston, where authorities say Miguel lived part of the time during his kidnapping.

During the trial's punishment phase, both Walker and Tanner testified, asking jurors to sentence them to probation.

"I didn't do nothing wrong," said a tearful Walker. She also told jurors she had very little contact with the boy, saying she was focused more on dealing with various health problems.

But Tanner contradicted her mother, telling jurors Miguel lived with Walker for extended periods of time. Tanner said she never hurt or abused Miguel.

"I didn't know they were looking for him. I didn't know he was missing," she said.

Prosecutors did not present any witnesses during the punishment phase but did ask jurors for a 25-year-sentence for Walker and an eight-year term for Tanner.

Authorities said Tanner, who used to babysit Miguel, took the boy from his Houston apartment complex when he was an infant and that she and her mother kept him hidden in homes in Central and East Texas, renaming him Jaquan.

Dutton said in his closing argument that claims by Tanner and Walker that Miguel was given to them by his mother are not supported by their actions.

"If Ms. Walker and Ms. Tanner had a right to little Miguel, why wasn't he in school?" he said. "Why didn't you get the rest of his immunizations? Why didn't you take him to the dentist? They knew they didn't have that right. They knew they couldn't put that baby out in the public eye."

Miguel remained missing until March 2012, when Tanner and Walker were arrested. Authorities began investigating Tanner in 2010 after her newborn son tested positive for marijuana. Investigators later determined that she had the missing boy.

San Augustine County Attorney Wesley Hoyt, the other prosecutor in the case, told jurors Miguel stayed missing for years in part because of a flawed investigation by Houston police, which closed the case in 2006.

But Rudy Velasquez, Walker's attorney, told jurors Miguel's parents, Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin, didn't cooperate with Houston police after the boy was reported missing and never really showed any concern for their son.

A Houston police investigator testified during the four-day trial last week she thought this was not a kidnapping case but one about interference with child custody because she believed the boy's parents and Tanner had an agreement related to his custody.

"This is not a kidnapping. What has happened is you have a young lady who gave her child away," Velasquez said. "Ms. Morin was willing to sell her child for $200."

The boy's parents were not in the courtroom on Tuesday. But Champion-Morin, had testified her son was taken by Tanner and that Houston police did not keep in touch with her about the case.

Donovan Dudinsky, Tanner's attorney, told jurors to consider that Miguel is currently not living with his parents but is instead in the custody of a Houston-area couple in deciding whether to believe the parents' claims that their son was taken.

A Houston judge last month placed Miguel with Junita and Joseph Auguillard, who have also been taking care of Miguel's four siblings for nearly 10 years under an agreement they have with the boy's parents.

Miguel has been told about the true identity of his parents and his siblings, and he has been having weekly joint therapy sessions with his parents.

"I hope years later (Miguel) looks back on this day and understands there were good people looking out for him," San Augustine County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham said after the sentences were handed down.
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