Police have found a 5-year-old Michigan boy allegedly snatched from his home by two armed men in a violent kidnapping.
The two suspects reportedly abducted the boy from his Chippewa County home on Wednesday, March 13, sparking an amber alert, since canceled.
Violent Abduction
Chippewa County deputies were called to a home for a domestic abuse report involving a stabbing, according to 9&10 News. When they arrived at the residence in Paradise, a small community along Whitefish Bay, deputies discovered that two male suspects had kidnapped 5-year-old Zephaniau George Cunningham.They encountered a man and four children inside and used a chemical spray and blunt objects to subdue them. They then used zip ties to secure everyone, according to the report, and duct taped the victims’ mouths shut.
Someone managed to break free, however, and stab one of the suspects before they left, according to 9&10 News.
Before the alleged kidnappers made off with the boy, they confronted a woman outside of the residence, according to the report. They bound and gagged the unidentified female before confining her in a car.
The armed duo fled the scene in a camouflage Ford pickup truck toward a residence about 5 miles north of the home.
Multiple law enforcement agencies were engaged in the search for the missing boy, according to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).
Tracks in the Snow
Deputies picked up the suspects’ trail in the snow and used snowmobiles to follow the footprints across the ice, 9&10 News reported.“After several hours of searching it was found the suspects took the child to a residence on Whitefish Bay off of Whitefish Pt Rd,” the CCSO said in a statement. “Suspects then fled the residence with the abducted child out onto the ice. Officers followed the tracks, which lead them to the suspects.”
One of the suspects, George Stephen Cunningham, is reportedly Zephaniau’s biological father.
The second subject was Jon Scott Stygler.
Both suspects face a range of charges, including kidnapping, assault, home invasion, and child endangerment.