Highway heroics: How a deputy's discovery led to an abducted child's safe return

Sierra Marling, Richmond Register, Ky.
·2 min read

May 8—The Madison County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) responded to a "unique" situation at the 5800 block of Battlefield Memorial Highway on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, around 5:30 p.m.

Deputies were called to respond to a motorist assist when a woman, identified as Ashley Griffith, needed a jump start on the side of the road.

According to Chief Deputy Anthony Terry, Deputy Shane Johnson noticed that the woman depicted some odd behavior when responding to questions.

"The deputies picked up that something else was going on within that vehicle, and they noticed there was a child in the car also. So, he (Johnson) starts asking questions, and at the same time he's running a tag check on the vehicle," commented Terry.

The deputies found that the vehicle tags were temporary tags from Tennessee.

"You can't run a check on a temporary tag from another state," Terry explained. "So he had to get the vehicle identification number (VIN) and run it."

Further investigation into the vehicle led to the discovery of an Amber Alert from Virginia for an Endangered Missing Person and a warrant for Abduction on Griffith.

According to authorities, the child was believed to be in "imminent danger."

"They did a little background investigation and found she (Griffith) had forcefully abducted the child from Virginia and was probably taking the back roads back to Indiana where she is from. She had another child there also," explained Terry.

According to the MCSO, deputies detained 30-year-old Griffith and charged her with Resisting Arrest and Fugitive from Another State.

While Griffith was lodged in the Madison County Detention Center, the child was taken into custody by Madison County Sheriff's Deputies.

The deputies contacted the sheriff's office in Virginia that had issued the Amber Alert to locate the child's guardian and get them home.

Terry praised the deputies and God for their handiwork, saying, "I think they did an outstanding job. I'm just so proud of them. It was a combination of good police work on their end and divine intervention on God's."