The Mount Vernon Police Department (MVPD) issued an arrest warrant for Amanda Dinges for second-degree kidnapping. The MVPD announced an arrest warrant was also issued for 60-year-old Amber Dinges, Amanda Dinges mother, for aiding her daughter kidnap and leave the area. The 5-year-old boy who was reported to have been abducted by his foster parent was found safe in Vietnam and is now back home with his biological mother.
“There were no indications that the abducted child was believed to be in danger of imminent death or serious bodily injury,” MVPD said in a press release. “These factors did not meet the criteria for statewide system activation. The use of the AMBER Alert system is reserved for events that need immediate public attention to help resolve an incident.”
An attorney representing the kid’s biological mother said the mom had just secured housing, which was the final step in getting her son back. They were working on starting overnight visits to help transition the child to his new home when the Dinges’ took him.
Investigators interviewed associates and family members of Amanda and Amber Dinges and gathered information from over 25 search warrants to help with the case. Investigators learned the woman, identified as 35-year-old Amanda M. Dinges, had not dropped the child off at his biological mom’s house as scheduled She then disconnected her phone and vacated her last known address.
The MVPD said investigators were able to narrow the boy’s location to Thai Binh, Vietnam, a city of 210,000 located 70 miles southeast of Hanoi. The child was then flown to Tokyo before finally arriving in Seattle last Friday.
