CLARENDON COUNTY, SC (WACH) - An Amber Alert has been lifted after SLED officials found 2-year-old Brandon Dubose II safe Tuesday morning.
Police say 2-year-old Brandon Dubose II is safe at home with his mother after officers found his father, Brandon Lee Dubose, hiding the boy in an old semi truck near the border of Clarendon and Sumter Counties. Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett says, through text messages, Brandon Dubose, Sr., threatened to harm the little boy.
The child's father had abducted him from his mother Monday afternoon in Manning.
Rescue crews searched swamps and fields throughout the night to find the missing boy. Police chased the father into the woods on the county border.
"These men and women standing with me today, most of them have been up for thirty hours and haven't had any sleep, or any rest," said Garrett.
According to police records, Dubose is prohibited from possessing or acquiring a handgun in the state of South Carolina. However, Sheriff Garrett considered Dubose armed and dangerous. Dubose's criminal record goes back to 1997 with the most recent being just last month. On June 21, Dubose was charged with criminal domestic violence of high and aggravated nature for an event that occurred on June 11.
" From time to time we always make the comment, 'We never give up and we never give in.' That's our motto," said Garrett.
The search continued into the early morning hours Tuesday with reinforcements from county and state police departments along with the federal officers and officials with the Department of Natural Resources.
The tip that helped end the search came from a neighbor who noticed a piece of his property had gone missing.
"About a mile from the command post, a gentleman owns a farm up there. He went to the farm early this morning and notices his four-wheeler had been stolen, and he knew the command post was right up the road, so he alerted us," said Garrett. "Search crews followed the four-wheeler tracks to a point near this lot just off Highway 261. Here they found Brandon Dubose, Sr., hiding his son in the cab of a semi truck."
The father was handcuffed and taken into custody. The child is now back home, safe with his mother.
By Ivory Hecker, WACH Fox
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