posted on January 30, 2003 09:52:43 AM new
RENO, Nev. - A 3-year-old boy found abandoned in a Salt Lake City store was identified as the son of a Reno woman who has been missing for two weeks, authorities said. Police were questioning her husband and said he is believed to be the man who left the boy, his stepson, behind.
Police said they took Lyle Montgomery, 42, in for questioning Wednesday night when they served a search warrant in connection with the hunt for his wife, Jeannette Acord.
"We share the concerns of the Reno Police Department as well as the FBI that there's a high probability of foul play in this matter, and we're looking into her whereabouts," Salt Lake City police Lt. Jim Jensen told the NBC "Today" show Thursday.
Acord, 28, has not been seen since Jan. 13, and police said Montgomery has refused to discuss her whereabouts.
Montgomery is believed to be the man pictured on a ShopKo security videotape with his 3-year-old stepson, Jonathan Jacob Corpuz, authorities said.
Jonathan was abandoned at the Salt Lake City store Saturday by a man who gave him a toy to play with and walked out. His identity was a mystery for days. Salt Lake City is some 500 miles from Reno.
When asked if Montgomery was the man in the tape, his lawyer, Marc Picker, told the NBC "Today" show Thursday that "I don't think anybody can answer that at the moment."
In October 2002, Acord brought a criminal complaint against Montgomery in which she said he assaulted her by pulling a firearm on her at his home in the same room as her son, Picker said. He also said the mother disappeared for several weeks, then reappeared and the couple got married.
"I'm not concerned that Mr. Montgomery committed any kind of crime against her. I don't believe he did," Picker said. "I can't answer for anything else that might have happened to Mrs. Montgomery."
Salt Lake City police expected to file child abuse charges against Montgomery for "intentionally and knowingly placing this child at risk," according to a police statement.
Police Lt. Ron Holladay said police were still searching the home.
"We are trying to find out where his wife is," he said. "That is our primary concern."
Holladay said Montgomery went to the police station voluntarily for an interview after police went to the house to serve the search warrant.
The child has been placed with a foster family in Utah. Jensen said the his father, who lives in California, spoke with his son Wednesday.
Richard Anderson, director of Utah's Division of Child and Family Services, told the "Today" show that the boy was doing well in the foster home, talks about his mother a lot and "clings very much to the foster mother."
The boy had told authorities his name was Jacob and his mother's name was Janet or Jeannette, but he didn't know his last name. No one had reported him missing in Reno, but a woman there recognized the child from a TV photo and called authorities.
posted on January 30, 2003 11:28:17 AM new
I read about this this morning, and its on AOL front page when I logged on. Im wondering where the mother is. As bad as it seems that the man dumped the kid like that, at least he didnt KILL him, ya know? He took the kid to a populated place, stuck a toy in his hands and left. For that, Im thankful. One less dead kid.
posted on January 31, 2003 08:44:15 PM new
RENO, Nev. (Jan. 31) - Bloodstains were found and a carpet was pulled up in the bedroom of a missing Reno woman whose toddler son was abandoned in a Salt Lake City store last week, an affidavit said.
Investigators who searched the home where Jeanette Acord lived with her husband, Lyle Montgomery, found the stained carpet and carpet pad removed from the master bedroom and rolled up outside.
``Examination of the carpet revealed two substantial sized red stains which appeared to be blood and which tested positive for blood with a presumptive chemical test,'' Police Detective Ron Chalmers Jr. wrote in an affidavit supporting a request for a search warrant. The affidavit was dated Thursday.
``Two corresponding saturated red stains were observed in the carpet pad. A smaller stain was observed on the wooden sub-floor of the master bedroom,'' he wrote.
The bed was missing from the room along with a dresser and other articles of furniture.
Montgomery, 42, was found semiconscious in the home when police arrived Wednesday night to check the welfare of Acord, who has not been heard from since Jan. 21. He remained under observation Friday in a psychiatric hospital in Reno.
Montgomery is charged in Salt Lake City with child abuse for allegedly leaving Acord's 3-year-old son, Jonathan Jacob Corpuz, sitting in a shopping cart at a ShopKo store last Saturday.
The boy told police that Montgomery fired a gunshot at his mother but missed, the affidavit said.
That and evidence found at the home led investigators to believe that the woman ``may have been injured, killed, restrained or otherwise harmed while at or in the residence,'' the affidavit said.
Police were not commenting Friday on results of their search of a storage unit rented by Montgomery. On Thursday, Lt. Ron Holladay told KRNV-TV, ``We did find some things in the storage unit that would raise some eyebrows for us.''
The affidavit said that when police arrived on Wednesday, was found Montgomery lying on the floor of a bedroom with a loaded gun 20 feet away and several rounds of ammunition in a nearby plastic bag. When the officers asked Montgomery where his wife was, he replied, ``She left.''
Montgomery, a pharmacy manager, was handcuffed and taken to police headquarters for questioning before being taken to Washoe Medical Center. He was later committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Montgomery had taken a prescription medication and alcohol before police found him, according to his attorney, Marc Picker. Picker said it was not a suicide attempt.
Police said Montgomery has refused to talk.
Picker has said it was premature for police to suspect foul play because Acord had disappeared before and then come back. He was representing Montgomery in an earlier charge growing out of an October incident in which Acord said he pulled a gun on her. Acord, her maiden name, also has gone by the names Corpuz, Snyder and Mrs. Montgomery.
