UPDATED
The woman accused of abducting nine-year-old Amsal Dhuka after he got off a school bus in central Fort Bend County yesterday has surrendered to authorities and been formally charged with kidnapping.
MOMIN
At an afternoon news conference, Fort Bend County Chief Deputy Craig Brady reported that 34-year-old Kismat Momin had surrendered to investigators.
Brady said Momin came in voluntarily around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, accompanied by her attorney.
She has been charged with kidnapping, but authorities still do not have a possible motive.
“On the advice of her attorney, she has not uttered one single word to us,” Brady told reporters. “(A motive is) the big unknown at this point. I expect at some point it will come out.”
Brady said more arrests may yet occur.
He said a number of individuals, including Momin’s husband, knew she had the boy but did not inform officers who spend the night searching for the elementary school student. Some of those individuals may face charges ranging from hindering an investigation to being a co-conspirator in the abduction, Brady said.
Momin lived in the same apartment complex as Dhuka and was known to both the boy and his parents, but they were not “close friends,” Brady noted.
According to the information investigators have developed so far, Momin apparently met Dhuka shortly after he got off a school bus near his apartment complex yesterday afternoon. She reportedly told the boy his parents had sent her to pick him up because some “bad people” were trying to harm him.
The two then spend most of the night in Momin’s car, at times stopping to eat at a fast food restaurant and bowling at a local entertainment center.
The two also reportedly slept in the car while parked in the driveway of an unoccupied home.
Just before dawn and knowing police were looking for her, Momin dropped Dhuka off at a Muslim worship center near Sugar Land.
After being recovered by deputies, Dhuka received a medical examination that confirmed he was “in good health and unharmed.”
Momin remains in the Fort Bend County Jail. Bond was set at $125,000.
If convicted of the kidnapping charge, a third-degree felony under Texas law, Momin could be sentenced to 2 – 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
