ZANDER McCREADY - 5 yo & Mother, Mindy (Country Singer) - Cape Coral FL

CAPE CORAL, Fla. -
A missing persons report has been filed for country singer Mindy McCready and her 5-year-old son Zander.
The
Department of Children and Families says the report was filed with Cape
Coral police on Tuesday night after McCready took Zander from
McCready's father's home. McCready doesn't have custody of her son --
her mother does -- and was allowed to visit the boy at her father's
home.
DCF spokesman Terry Field told The Associated Press the
agency made a motion in Lee County court for an emergency pickup order. A
judge ruled to give McCready until 5 p.m. Thursday to return Zander.
Since topping the country charts in the mid-1990s with her
music, the 36-year-old singer's troubled life has been filled with
domestic abuse, drug and DUI arrests and a suicide attempt.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Country-singer-Mindy-McCready-5-year-old-son-reported-missing/-/1637132/4848128/-/6dp7n2z/-/index.html

http://celebrity-gossip.net/mindy-mccready/mindy-mccready-zander-and-i-arent-missing-565542

Mindy McCready: Zander and I Aren't Missing
Posted Wednesday November 30, 2011 3:33 PM GMT

After it was made public that she and her young son had disappeared, Mindy McCready has come forward to address the claims.

The 36-year-old responded to missing person's reports by telling that her 5-year-old boy Zander is safe and sound in her care.

She told Access Hollywood, “I am working with lawyers to try to get all this straightened out. I did not steal my child, as it would be impossible for me to kidnap what already belongs to me! There never was any missing persons report and never an Amber Alert.”

Seeing that McCready doesn't have custody of Zander, a judge has issued an order that she return the boy by Thursday night (December 1).

http://celebrity-gossip.net/mindy-mccready/mindy-mccready-zander-and-i-arent-missing-565542

http://www.abc-7.com/story/16153205/2011/11/30/police-search-for-mindy-mccready-her-son?clienttype=printable

Mindy McCready takes son, takes off

Posted: Nov 30, 2011 9:05 AM EST Updated: Nov 30, 2011 3:27 PM EST

Authorities believe former country music star Mindy McCready fled Southwest Florida with her five-year-old son Tuesday - even though she currently doesn't have legal custody of the boy.

NBC2's Stacey Deffenbaugh has learned that a case worker from the Children's Network made an unannounced visit to the Cape Coral home of Mindy's father on Tuesday.

The boy, named Zander, was supposed to be there. The boy had been reported sick and missed school before Thanksgiving, according to a police report.

But when he missed school again Tuesday - and was again reported sick by his step-grandmother - a case worker headed to the home.

Zander wasn't there.

Mindy's father, Tim McCready, didn't want to tell the case worker where the boy was.

Fearing the boy had been taken to Arkansas without the court's permission, the case worker called police and notified the Department of Children and Families.

When police arrived, the boy's step-grandmother, Malinda McCready, told police she wasn't saying anything and they needed to talk to her lawyer.

This case has a long legal history and a lot of family strife. There have been dozens of court hearings about the custody of the boy.

Mindy's mother has legal custody of Zander and is raising him, with the help of her husband.

Mindy and the child's father have visitation rights. The boy is also allowed to visit his grandfather, Mindys father, which is where he was Tuesday morning.

Authorities say an Amber Alert has not been issued because the child is with his mother.

Police have communicated with McCready via the video chat service Skype, but it's not clear if they were able to see the boy, as she reportedly asserted in a Facebook posting.

In an emergency hearing late Tuesday, a judge ruled that McCready has until 5 p.m. Thursday to return the child to authorities or face arrest.

If she surrenders the boy, another hearing is likely to be held on Friday to address her visitation rights.

http://www.abc-7.com/story/16153205/2011/11/30/police-search-for-mindy-mccready-her-son?clienttype=printable

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Country singer Mindy McCready
said Wednesday she probably will not be able to bring her 5-year-old
son back to Florida to fulfill a judge's order by Thursday afternoon --
because she is nearly seven months pregnant with twins. By not returning
as ordered, she risks arrest.


Speaking exclusively to The Associated
Press, McCready said she and her mother have had a long custody battle
over the boy, Zander. Her mother was awarded guardianship in 2007.


The battle became more public this week,
when the Florida Department of Children and Families said a missing
person report was filed with police after McCready took Zander from her
father's home. McCready was able to visit with the boy there under a
court order, and the 36-year-old singer said she had spent much of the
past month with her son at the home. Her mother and father are divorced.
McCready alleges that her son suffered abuse
while living at her mother's home and that is one reason why she left
with the boy last week.


"I'm a mom first," said McCready from
Nashville, Tennessee. "No matter what happens, I'm going to protect my
kid. If I have to go to jail, so be it."


When reached at her home Wednesday night, McCready's mother, Gayle Inge, said the abuse allegations are "absolutely not true."


During the interview with the AP, a tearful
McCready recounted a messy and confusing tale of court custody battles
and family fights.


On Tuesday, the Florida agency discovered
that McCready and the boy were not at her father's home and a judge
ruled she must return him voluntarily by 5 p.m. Thursday or risk an
arrest warrant.


McCready said she was under the impression
that the Florida judge was transferring the custody case to Tennessee
and that it wouldn't be a problem if she brought him there.


Since topping the country charts in the
mid-1990s with her music, the singer's life has been filled with
domestic abuse, drug arrests and a suicide attempt. In August, she filed
the libel suit in Palm Beach County against her mother and the National
Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., over a story published
in the tabloid newspaper that quoted Inge.


McCready, whose son could be heard giggling
on the other end of the line Wednesday as his mother spoke to the AP,
said the father of her twins is a music producer named David who is
supportive of her quest to regain custody of Zander.


Wednesday was McCready's 36th birthday.
"I hope that for my birthday, I get my son forever," McCready said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/30/country-singer-mindy-mccready-reportedly-cant-return-to-florida-court-due-to/#ixzz1fG6OIPmS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Authorities
said late Friday they had located country singer Mindy McCready's
5-year-old son in Arkansas and taken him into custody.


Florida Department of Children and Families
spokeswoman Terri Durdaller said in an email Friday night that her
agency was working with Arkansas state officials to bring the boy back
to his legal guardian in Florida, his maternal grandmother. Officials
say he's safe and in good health.


Gayle Inge, Zander's grandmother and
McCready's mother, was tearful when she talked about the news by phone
Friday night with The Associated Press.




"I'm real excited that he's safe," she said. "But I can't explain what this is like. We feel for Mindy and we feel for Zander."


Inge said Zander was taken into custody at
McCready's boyfriend's lake home in Arkansas. Inge said that her son --
McCready's half brother -- texted McCready, who responded with a text
that said her mother would never see her again.


"I want to wrap my arms around her and tell
her that I love her," Inge said, adding that her daughter and grandson
were found by authorities "hiding in a closet."


McCready, who turned 36 on Wednesday, did not respond to emails late Friday.


The evening's developments capped a
days-long saga between McCready -- who is seven months pregnant with
twins -- and her family.


Authorities say McCready took the boy during
a visit late last month to her father's Florida home, where she was
allowed to visit the boy. McCready's parents are divorced.


A Florida judge signed an order Thursday
telling authorities to take the boy into custody and return him. It's
not yet clear whether the singer could face criminal charges.


McCready said earlier in the week that she
would not bring her son back from Tennessee, where she has a home,
despite violating the custody arrangement. She told the AP that her son
had suffered abuse at her mother's house, a claim that Inge vehemently
denied.


"I'm doing all this to protect Zander, not
stay out of trouble," McCready wrote in an email to the AP on Thursday.
"I don't think I should be in trouble for protecting my son in the first
place."


McCready told the AP Wednesday night she was in Tennessee and couldn't travel because she is pregnant with twins.


The boy's father, Billy McKnight, told NBC's
"Today" show Friday he spoke on the phone with McCready and their boy
after the judge's 5 p.m. EST Thursday deadline expired.


"He did sound healthy and ok. He wasn't crying or scared," McKnight said about their son.


"I think she believes she has a case and doesn't realize she's pushing her luck on this one," he said.


McCready and her mother have had a long
custody battle over the boy. Zander was living with McCready's mother,
who was awarded guardianship in 2007.


"We can confirm that Zander has been taken
into custody and we are working with Arkansas state officials to bring
him back to his legal guardian in Florida," Durdaller wrote late Friday.
"He is safe and in good health.


McCready had provided a series of emails to the AP with Lee County Judge James Seals' ruling to return the boy.


"Mom has violated the court's custody order
and we are simply restoring the child back into our custody," the judge
wrote. "Nothing more. Nothing less. The court makes no judgment about
whether Mom will or will not competently care for the child while in her
custody. It only wants the child back where the court placed him."


McCready found fame in the mid-1990s and has lived a complicated life in recent years.


McCready fought the release of a tape in
which she reportedly talked about former Boston Red Sox and New York
Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, with whom she had an affair as a
teenager.


In August, she filed a libel suit against
her mother and the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media
Inc., over a story published in the tabloid newspaper that quoted Inge.


And in 2008, McCready was admitted to a
hospital after police said she cut her wrists and took several pills in a
suicide attempt.


During the TV show "Celebrity Rehab 3" in
2010, McCready came off as a sympathetic figure, and host Dr. Drew
Pinsky called her an angel in the season finale.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/12/02/police-take-custody-singer-mindy-mccreadys-son/#ixzz1fRupgeYz

The hunt for Mindy McCready and her five-year-old son Zander is over.
The troubled country singer and her child were found hiding in the
closet of a vacant home in Arkansas Friday evening, just a day after mom
violated a court order to return the boy to his legal guardian, her
mother. McCready was not arrested for the kidnapping incident, but she
still may face charges at some point in the future. Authorities are
currently making plans to bring Zander back to Florida. He’s reportedly
in good health, but it seems likely the strange incident took some sort
of toll.


McCready’s visit with her son was scheduled to end on Tuesday at 5 PM,
but she never dropped the boy off. A missing persons report was filed,
which prompted the musician to call police and let them know they were
in Tennessee. She was advised to head back to Florida immediately, but
McCready refused on the grounds that she was seven months pregnant.
When Thursday’s deadline passed, a judge ruled the boy should be taken
into custody. That led to the manhunt that ended last night.


According to CBS,
the vacant house the two were found in is near a property owned by
McCready’s current boyfriend. Neighbors reportedly saw lights on and
phoned the police, though whether they knew who was inside remains
unclear. The singer herself is maintaining she’s done nothing wrong and
needed to take the boy because he was being abused. Even if that’s
true, it certainly seems like there are better ways to go about proving
it.


We’ll keep you updated as this mess works itself out.
http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Mindy-McCready-Found-Hiding-Vacant-House-37492.html

Mindy sure likes drama in her life. Sheesh.

babyjustice wrote:Mindy sure likes drama in her life. Sheesh.

Not that I am Dr Drew or anything but it's a deep-rooted self esteem problem. She cannot handle her popularity as she doesn't feel she deserves it. She's pretty, talented and can't seem to wrap her head around the fact that she deserves it. She may have been an "ugly duckling outcast" when younger.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:

babyjustice wrote:Mindy sure likes drama in her life. Sheesh.

Not that I am Dr Drew or anything but it's a deep-rooted self esteem problem. She cannot handle her popularity as she doesn't feel she deserves it. She's pretty, talented and can't seem to wrap her head around the fact that she deserves it. She may have been an "ugly duckling outcast" when younger.

I remember her being on the Celebrity Rehab show but didn't see it. Was Dr. Drew able to help her?