BRYAN BRASWELL - 2 yo (2004) - Marshall (NW of Asheville) NC

Marshall NC ---- A boy missing and
endangered for six years after his mother fled the county with him has
been found safely in Tennessee, authorities said.Madison County Sheriff's Detective Mike Boone said Bryan Braswell was
recovered Saturday by officers of the Hancock County Sheriff's
Department after an anonymous caller told dispatchers that the boy and
his mother, Tonya Morton, were in the town of Sneedville.The boy disappeared in
2004, Boone said.“His
father filed a report that his biological mother had left the state
with him,” Boone said.Hancock
County, Tenn. deputy Jason Mathis said Morton was going by the name
Denise Chapman, and that charges are possible against her. She was not
in custody as of Wednesday evening, he said. Possible charges would
include custodial interference and child abuse/neglect.“For one thing, he had never seen a doctor or been to
a hospital or anything like that,” Mathis said. “He never had any
shots, and was only allowed to eat two times a day, just different stuff
like that” in terms of the charges.Bryan, who is now almost 8 years old, went by the
name Josiah, and was being home-schooled by his mother, Mathis said.
Deputies recovered Bryan while he attended a church activity at the
local community center. Morton, 44, is a devoted follower of the
Seventh-Day Adventist Church, according to information posted on an
online missing child database.Morton and her son lived in a house about six miles
outside Sneedville, Mathis said. It appeared Morton had the house packed
up and was preparing to move to an unknown location.The father, Ron Morton, had already been awarded
custody of the couple's other children, but a court order giving him
sole custody of Bryan had not been served on the mother when she took
the boy and fled, Boone said.He said Madison dispatcher Gary Elkins deserves credit
because “his quick work” on Saturday got photographs of Tonya Morton
into the hands of officers in Tennessee, allowing them to positively
identify her.Boone
said he contacted the boy's father, who now lives in Albemarle, and the
father traveled to Tennessee to get the boy. They are both now back in
Albemarle with the boy's siblings. Ron Morton could not be reached for
comment.Boone
said he had worked the case “at least once a week” for the past six
years, communicating with other agencies, schools and with the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children.The search for the boy covered many states, and
included one tip they were in Iraq.