A 5-year-old boy who went missing in Tooele with his father amid threats of violence was found safely Saturday.
At about 8 p.m. Friday, Richard Mamales, 44, got into an argument with his ex-girlfriend, who had taken him to his adult daughter’s house in Tooele, said Capt. Paul Wimmer of the Tooele City Police Department. During the course of the argument, Mamales allegedly threatened to kill his entire family and his ex-girlfriend, starting with the pair’s son, Derek, said Wimmer.
Mamales allegedly grabbed the boy out of the car and started walking away on foot, west from the adult daughter’s house at 448 E. Vine Street, Wimmer said. The incident was reported to dispatch, which summoned officers from the Tooele City Police Department who happened to be in the area, but the officers could not see anyone matching Mamales’ and Derek’s descriptions.
Mamales’ family later told police that while Mamales had no known contacts in the Tooele area, he had a knack for gleaning rides from kind-hearted strangers, Wimmer said. Investigators were summoned, and the Utah Child Abduction Response Team, or CART, was activated.
At about 11 a.m. Saturday, investigators activated an Amber Alert for Derek. However, less than an hour later, a bloodhound, brought by CART members with the South Salt Lake Police Department, found Mamales and Derek, safe and sound in a shed in the yard of 418 E. Vine Street, less than a half block away from where the fight had taken place.
Wimmer said Mamales had evidently walked away from his daughter’s house and ducked into the shed, which is why the patrol officers had not seen him in the area. He had given Derek his jacket overnight, and the pair had some candy and a candle, the latter of which had apparently been used for a small amount of warmth.
Wimmer said Saturday afternoon he did not know of any injuries or exposure to either Mamales or Derek.
Tooele Police Chief Ron Kirby said he believes the happy resolution was due to the professionalism of CART in this unusual and sensitive case.
“It was the response that worked and the system that worked,” he said. “We’re pleased with that.”
A more detailed account of the case, as well as photos from the arrest and Derek’s reunion with his mother, will be published in Tuesday’s Transcript-Bulletin.