It was a beautiful moment when 7-year-old Iris Crum was reunited with her father Anthony Crum earlier this week. Iris was abducted by her mother, who does not have custody of her, at the beginning of March. First, an Endangered Child Alert was issued by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office in Texas before it was escalated to an Amber Alert. Nearly two weeks later, Iris and her father had an emotional reunion.
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"(I) woke up to a phone call and the officers said, like, "Good morning, Mr. Crump. This is Officer Duncan. We've located your daughter, we have her in custody,' and I jumped up right away and was like, 'OK, where she at? I'll be on my way.' And that was that," Crum told news outlets. He said he has "not had much sleep at all" since his daughter's disappearance.
Within 15 minutes, Crum was on his way to pick up his precious baby girl from the police. "I do feel that sigh of relief that the notion that everything will be OK," he said. As he spoke to the news outlets, Iris was sitting in the backseat of his car, smiling wide. When asked how she was feeling about being reunited with her dad, she said "Happy."
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office told news outlets that they found Iris in a suburb of Houston with her mother, Khalia Czereda, and her husband, Ethan. After they found Iris, Khalia and Ethan Czereda were taken into police custody.
Khalia Czereda is facing charges of felony child abduction from San Diego County, Calif., and custodial interference from Rutherford County, according to the sheriff's department. Her husband, Ethan, is facing charges that include felony aggravated kidnapping, accessory after the fact, and false report/information to officers. Currently, he is being held on a $75,000 bond.
