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Police Clear Mom In Abducted Child Case

Tuesday Hearing Canceled For Maria Gurrolla

POSTED: 10:29 am CDT October 5, 2009
UPDATED: 6:33 pm CDT October 6, 2009

A Tuesday hearing has been canceled for a Nashville mother whose child was kidnapped last week after police believe she was not involved in plot to sell her newborn.

Related: Video: Kidnapped Infant Returns To Parents | Video: Mom Not Involved In Plot To Sell Child, Says Relative | Video | Video | DCS Issues Statement On Gurrolla Case (PDF) | Criminal Complaint Against Tammy Renee Silas (PDF) | Images

Metro police and the Department of Children's Services issued statements Tuesday saying that the parents of the abducted infant, Yair Carillo, are clear of any wrongdoing in an alleged sale of their child.

DCS' statement that said the parents, Maria Gurrolla and Jose Carrillo, have now been ruled out as persons of interest in the investigation.

Child welfare officials suspected Monday that Gurrolla was trying to sell the child, a source close to the case told Channel 4 News.

A statement released Monday by DCS had said, in part, that "the Department of Children's Services still had concerns about the well-being and safety of (her other) children, based on credible and serious information that we are currently receiving."

A day later, Metro police agreed that Yair should be returned to the custody of his parents and a Juvenile Court proceeding held Tuesday morning allowed that to happen.

Metro detectives, FBI and Tennessee Bureau on Investigation agents said they conducted additional interviews over the past 24 hours, which allowed them to return Yair to his parents.

The baby was recovered Friday after he was abducted during a Sept. 29 knife attack on his mother in her home. Gurrolla was briefly reunited with the infant Saturday before Children's Services took him and his 3-, 9- and 11-year-old siblings into state custody, saying it was for their safety.

Tammy Renee Silas, 39, of Ardmore, Ala., was charged with kidnapping after authorities said they found the baby at her home about 80 miles south of Nashville.

Silas has not been charged in the attack on Gurrolla, who was stabbed several times and suffered a collapsed lung.

Police said significant unanswered questions remain why Gurrolla and her newborn son were targeted by Silas.

The court clerk's office in Huntsville, Ala., said a magistrate is expected to sign papers authorizing Silas to be moved to Tennessee by federal marshals. Silas remains in federal custody.

Law enforcement officials said the case is still under active investigation. Federal documents indicated a second person could be involved. According to Silas' arrest warrant, Gurrolla heard Silas make a phone call in Spanish after the stabbing. Gurrolla said Silas told someone "the job is done" and that Gurrolla "was dying."

A family member said on Tuesday that Gurolla and her family are currently staying with another relative right now because she is afraid to go back to her home where the attack happened.

Silas could appear in federal court in Nashville sometime later this week.


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