Athena Brownfield.Photo: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
A second caregiver has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of 4-year-old Athena Brownfield in Oklahoma.
Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested in Arizona on Thursday and is awaiting extradition to Oklahoma onone count of murderand one count of child neglect, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said Friday.
The couple’s charges stem from the discovery of Athena’s 5-year-old sister walking alone in Cyril, Oklahoma on Jan. 10. The following day the OSBI shared on Facebook that they and the Cyril Police Department were looking for Athena as a matter of urgency. The sister is currently in protective custody and was reportedly found unharmed, perNBC News.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (2)
On Friday, authorities stated that “Alysia and Ivon Adams were Athena’s caretakers when she disappeared.” They added that “Athena’s five-year-old sister was also in their care.”
KFOR Reporter Ashley Moss shared Friday thatIvon waived his right to an extraditionhearing after his arrest, with the state of Oklahoma now having 30 days to get him from Arizona.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued a missing endangered person alert for Athena after the news hit of her sister being found last week, but didn’t issue an Amber Alert “because there was no indication of an abduction,” a spokesperson told NBC News.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Foster added, perKOCO, that the Amber Alert has “specific guidelines,” adding “once we push that button, it goes all the way to Washington, D.C., and goes out like that. So, there’s specific things and guidelines that we have to follow. Not every part of that guideline came into play in this, so that wasn’t done.”
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“I’ve just got to be strong for my children,” Athena’s grandmother Penny Brownfield told NBC. “It’s affecting my children. It’s really affecting my oldest son, which those are his babies, which means those are my babies, too.”
Brownfield added that her granddaughter is “not just going to vanish,” and that her disappearance has been “quite a blow.”
Amissing person posternotes that the young girl was last seen in a pink butterfly sweater and pink pants, as Trash service in Cyril has been suspended and residents are asked to share any information or useful security camera footage as the search continues. “We’re just digging for every clue, processing everything that we can to see if it can help us locate her,” OSBI spokesperson Brook Arbeitman said, per NBC.
Arbeitman said on Wednesday that “there’s not anything to indicate that other thanshe’s a little childand she’s missing. She’s on her own in the elements. Is that in danger? Yeah. But is she a victim of physical harm? That’s yet to be determined.”
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at 800-522-8017 or tips@osbi.ok.gov.
source: people.com
