Milwaukee boy kidnapped near 61st and Hustis, man charged

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee County prosecutors said the kidnapping of a 7-year-old boy on the city's north side last Friday started as a plan to rob the boy's mother.

Charges filed

In Court:

Court filings show 25-year-old Corey Williams is charged with kidnapping, taking hostages and contributing to the delinquency of a child – all felonies, and all as a party to a crime.

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The Milwaukee Police Department said, in addition to Williams, a 14-year-old boy and 38-year-old man were arrested. Criminal charges will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office. No other suspects are being sought at this time.

7-year-old kidnapped

The backstory:

According to the complaint, a white Jeep SUV drove in front of a home near 61st and Hustis as the 7-year-old was riding his bike on July 11. The boy's father said he saw people jump out of the Jeep with guns and grab his son, put him in the SUV and drive away.

Surveillance video showed the boy was riding his bike when the Jeep turned and blocked the driveway of the home around 7:10 p.m. Two people then got out, court filings said. One person chased the dad inside while the other chased after the boy, grabbed him and carried him to the Jeep. The Jeep then took off after everyone was in the vehicle.

The boy was found the next day in the upper unit of a duplex near 39th and Lloyd. Prosecutors said Williams was found hiding in the attic, and court filings said he had a pill – which tested positive for methamphetamine – in his pocket.

According to the complaint, the boy told police he was at his dad's house when a man chased him, grabbed him and took him. He said he was in a car with three unknown men, and they drove to the house where police found him. When they got to the house, he went inside with the man who drove the car and "heard the man talking to his mom." 

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Court filings said the boy "teared up" during the interview with police and said he heard his mom say that "she was going to come and pick him up but she never came."

The boy later identified Williams from a photo as the man who drove the Jeep, per the complaint.

In custody

What they're saying:

In an interview with detectives, the complaint states Williams said he and others planned to rob the boy's mother.

According to court filings, he claimed the mother is a "well-known drug dealer and flaunted money and that he had seen her with bricks of drugs during FaceTime calls." He said, on the day they took the boy, he and another person had guns and planned to commit the robbery.

The criminal complaint states Williams admitted to taking the license plate off his girlfriend's Jeep to help as part of a plan to rob the boy's mother, who is identified as 25-year-old Shavon Williams.

The plan was to go to the mother's home and rob her at gunpoint, Williams said, per the complaint. They drove there and waited but never saw the woman, and someone in the crew suggested they rob the boy's father instead. They then drove to the area of 61st and Hustis and saw the boy and his father outside.

Williams said two people got out of the Jeep with guns, according to court filings. One of those people grabbed the boy, and they sped away once everyone was back in the Jeep. He said they got into an argument as they drove over why they took the boy. He said the plan then changed, and one of the people he was with contacted the mother – demanding $100,000 and jewelry – in exchange for the boy. They were going to meet at a park.

Prosecutors said Williams told police he was "originally promised" $10,000 for his role in the robbery, but "demanded more" once the boy was taken. He said the mother never showed up for their meeting and, once they became aware of the Amber Alert, he said the other two people left him with the boy at the home near 39th and Lloyd.

Dig deeper:

Detectives arrested another person, who is not named in the complaint filed against Williams but is identified as one of the two armed people involved in the kidnapping. Detectives searched that person's home and found a handgun under a couch cushion. There were also phone calls in which that person spoke to people about his plan to rob the mother.

The boy's mother is also in jail. However, as of Thursday night, she is not charged in the case.

Editor's note: This story was updated to add new information.