Mass. police arrest grandmother in Maine kidnapping
An Indiana woman is set to be arraigned Friday, after being arrested for allegedly kidnapping her granddaughter in Maine and fleeing to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts State Police apprehended 49-year-old Melanie E. Wever at a Stoneham gas station Thursday night. Her 16-month-old granddaughter, Hazel Richards, was found safe and unharmed in the woman’s van.
The sheriff of Cumberland County, Maine, Kevin Joyce, told the Portland Press Herald the child’s mother gave Wever permission to take the girl from Indiana to Maine over the weekend. She flew to North Yarmouth on Wednesday and contacted authorities after Wever refused to return Hazel.
Wever’s son, the girl’s father, is also in custody and being questioned. Joyce said the man, whose name wasn’t released, flew to Boston yesterday to meet Wever. He was contacted by Maine detectives who asked him to convince Wever to surrender. He apparently helped State and Stoneham Police locate Wever and the child.
Wever is scheduled to be arraigned in Woburn District Court.
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