Boy reported missing 4 years ago found behind fake Ga. wall

WSBTV

A terrified boy was found cowering behind a false wall in the linen closet of a suburban Atlana home, four years after his Florida mother reported him missing, authorities said.

Clayton County police were responding to a call of a child being beaten. Occupants of the house denied any knowledge of a 13-year-old boy. Police searched the home but found nothing, authorities said.

But then a second call came in, and officers went back to the home.

That's when they opened a linen closet door near near the attack and saw the boy hunched behind a false wall, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

The boy had been able to download an app that allowed him to send a text message to his mother.

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The mom, in turn, called Clayton County police.

The mother had reported the child missing four years ago, when the boy's father failed to return him from a visit.

The father, his wife and three others were arrested Saturday and charged with false imprisonment, obstruction and child cruelty.

The boy was terrified when police found him, WSB-TV reported, but then kept repeating 'Thank you, thank you,' as officers took him from the home.

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Weeping, the boy was reunited with his mother at the Clayton County Police headquarters.

Authorities said the child had been reported missing to social welfare workers, but not to police. Investigators are trying to sort out the details.

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