2-year-old boy abducted from RI home found safe

JOHNSTON, R.I. — A 2-year-old boy kidnapped from a Rhode Island home where police made an early morning discovery of two bodies was found Sunday night “in good health,” police said.

Johnston Deputy Police Chief Daniel Parrillo said the boy was found in Providence, but he would not provide any other details on the circumstances.

The search for the boy, Isaiah Perez, began after the two bodies were discovered about 5:20 a.m. at a home in Johnston, a town of 30,000 residents less than 10 miles from Providence. Two men were arrested in the double homicide and Isaiah’s abduction, while police had continued their search “any place and every place” for the child, Parrillo said.

Parrillo said investigators believe the two were killed between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. and the boy was taken from the home. The names of the two dead were not immediately released.

By the afternoon, Malcolm Crowell, 22, was arrested in Fall River, Mass., and Daniel Rodriguez, 27 or 28, was arrested that evening in Providence, Parrillo said. Both suspects are from Providence, but Parillo would not say why police suspect the two or how they are related to each other or to the victims.

Investigators were working to determine the relationships among the boy, his abductor and the two homicide victims. Parrillo said it was unclear whether the boy’s abductor was living in the home, was a guest or was uninvited.

“What he was doing there, we have no idea,” Parrillo said earlier in the day. “We don’t believe the child was harmed, and we’re just hoping that he will be safely returned.”

When the boy went missing, a nationwide Amber Alert was issued that identified the child and also named Crowell as a suspect.

Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio initially said Crowell was captured in Fall River. But Procopio later backtracked and would only say he was told the man in custody wasn’t involved in the child’s disappearance. Parrillo said Sunday evening that he couldn’t explain the confusion among Massachusetts State Police surrounding Crowell’s status as a suspect.