INKSTER, Mich. — Two boys ages 4 and 6 from Inkster were found safe Wednesday in a Norwalk, Ohio cornfield after their father took them from home during a morning domestic assault, authorities said.
Inkster police said the 10:04 a.m. Oct. 14 call pointed to a Spring Hill address in the 4500 block. The boys mother told officers the father had attacked and tied her up, then drove off with the children in her car while threatening to kill himself and the boys.
After she freed herself and dialed for help, Inkster Police Chief Tamika Jenkins said agencies across the region poured resources into the hunt, including cellphone tracking and Flock license-plate cameras that followed the vehicle’s path.
A heavy search focused for a time on Rouge Park in Detroit after the mother reported the father was there threatening suicide. Detroit Police Department officers joined Inkster police. The children were not at the park; the father had already crossed into Ohio.
Police later spoke with the boys by phone and FaceTime. One child told officers the father had turned a gun on himself and that the brothers were standing in farm rows. Huron County deputies and Norwalk police in Ohio then recovered the children unharmed; crews found the father dead nearby.
Family members said the boys were being taken back to their mother. Jenkins credited Detroit officers plus Norwalk police and Huron County deputies for finishing the multi-state recovery.
