AUSTIN BYERS - 3 yo - Panama City FL

AMBER ALERT: Austin Byers, 3, missing from Panama City

Posted: 7:33 PM CST
Last Updated: 1 hour and 11 minutes ago




PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Panama City Police have issued an Amber Alert for
a 3-year-old child following a trailer fire this afternoon.

According to the Panama City Police, an Amber Alert for 3-year-old Austin Byers was issued Thursday afternoon.

Austin is approximately 40 pounds and 44 inches tall. He has blonde hair and
brown eyes and was last seen wearing a brown shirt, dark shorts and
Spiderman light-up shoes.
Austin may be in the company of his father, 27-year-old Jonathan Byers.

Jonathan Byers was last seen wearing red shorts and possibly traveling on a red
mountain bike. He also has a loop earring in his left ear.

Police were called to the 4200 block of 19th Street this afternoon for a
trailer fire, and witnesses on scene say Byers reportedly fled the scene
on the bike with his son.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the Panama City Police Department at 850-872-3112.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/state/amber-alert-austin-byers-3-missing-from-panama-city#ixzz1oa7nKqAS

PANAMA CITY - Panama City Police canceled an Amber Alert for a 3-year-old child after he was found safe this evening.
The alert for 3-year-old Austin Byers was issued Thursday afternoon.


Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/state/amber-alert-austin-byers-3-missing-from-panama-city#ixzz1ohPfgi4H

Amber alert suspect convicted of felony

Firefighters fight a fire the Anchorage Mobile Home Park in Panama City in March of 2012.

Andrew Wardlow/ News Herald file photo

By CHRIS OLWELL / The News Herald


Published: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 20:19 PM.


PANAMA CITY — The man who triggered an Amber Alert last spring after he allegedly set his home on fire and rode off on a bicycle with his 3-year-old son has been convicted of attempted child abuse by a Bay County jury.

But the jury also had good news 29-year-old Johnathan Byers; he was acquitted of arson and contributing to the delinquency of a minor and convicted only of attempted child abuse rather than child abuse, which is how he was charged.

Byers was arrested March 9, 2012 after taking a small boat from St. Andrews Marina and subsequently sinking it near Gracie Rae’s. When the boat sank, Byers appeared to be clinging to his son’s life preserver in order to keep his head above water, which pulled the child deeper into the water, according to court records. A bystander pulled Byers and his son out of the water and brought them to shore where police were waiting for him.

A crowd onshore cheered the rescue, and Byers reportedly took a bow.

Before his arrest, he was seen by neighbors riding away from his West 19^th Street mobile home, which became engulfed in flames moments later, with his son on the handlebars, after an argument with the child’s mother.

The home was a total loss.

Arson investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office investigated the blaze and determined it started simultaneously in two locations. The fire had been intentionally set, according to court records.

The child’s mother testified during the first day of the trial that her son was not physically injured during the incident, but he tells other children that his father set their house on fire.

Judge James Fensom scheduled a sentencing hearing for on March 15 at the conclusion of Byer’s two-day trial. He faces up to five years in prison.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/crime-public-safety/amber-alert-suspect-convicted-of-felony-1.103779