CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman who claimed she had been kidnapped along with a child, prompting a search that stretched from Charleston to Fayette County and included national law enforcement alerts, is now charged with child neglect and arson.
Casey Velez, 30, was being held in the Southern Regional Jail on Thursday.
A patron at the Jet Shop on Charleston’s Greenbrier St. reported Wednesday night a woman, last seen in a copper or brown sedan, had said she was being taken against her will.
Charleston Police determined the vehicle was registered to an address in Gauley Bridge, to a man who left with the woman and child, and State Police troopers in Oak Hill were contacted.
As troopers approached the home, investigators said Velez was seen trying to set the house on fire with the child inside of it.
During a later interview, Velez allegedly told investigators she was not kidnapped. Instead, she said she had contacted the man involved to pick her up in Elkview.
Child Protective Services placed the child in the custody of a family member.