A seven-year-old boy who had been missing for seven years was found safe in Colorado last month, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday (March 6).
Abdul Aziz Khan, whose disappearance was featured on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, was reported missing in 2017. Authorities believed that his non-custodial mother kidnapped him.
The police finally got a break in the case when they were called to a home for sale on February 23 by the homeowners who reported seeing suspicious activity on their security cameras. When officers arrived, they found a car in the driveway with two children sitting inside.
Two adults came out of the house and said they were with the realtor who was selling the home. Officers noticed some inconsistencies in their story and split them up to question them separately.
The Sheriff’s Office said that deputies “worked tirelessly to verify the identities of everyone involved. They knew something wasn’t right. They were following their gut, and they investigated further. They just didn’t take it on face value and take the easy way out and move on. They dug and dug and dug for about five hours until they could figure out what was going on.”
After taking the woman’s fingerprints, they discovered that she was Aziz’s mother, 40-year-old Rabia Khalid. She was then taken into custody on an active kidnapping warrant. The man was identified as 42-year-old Elliot Blake Bourgeois.
Police learned that Khalid kidnapped Aziz in Georgia seven years ago when she thought she was going to lose custody of him to his father.
Officers spoke to the boy, now 14, and learned that he was Aziz. He was taken into protective custody along with the young girl in the car, who was not identified.
Khalid and Bourgeois were taken into custody and charged with Second Degree Kidnapping, Forgery, Identity Theft, Providing False Information to Authorities, and Trespassing.
Officials said that the court will decide what to do with the children.
“We’re overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found. We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years. We specifically want to recognize the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for their exceptional work in solving this case. Now, as we navigate the next steps, we ask for privacy so that we can move forward as a family and heal together,” Aziz’s family said in a statement.
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