RAHWAY, N.J. — A 2-year-old New Jersey boy who was abducted by his father, sparking an Amber Alert on Friday, has been found safe in Tennessee, officials said Saturday. However, the child’s mother, Yasmine Uyar, remained missing.
The boy’s father, 27-year-old Tyler Rios, was found in Monterey, Tennessee with the 2-year-old boy early Saturday morning, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Rahway Police Department Director Jonathan Parham said in a joint statement.
“While we are relieved that [the child] has been found safe and that Tyler Rios is in custody, we are still urging anyone with information about the whereabouts of Yasmine Uyar to come forward and tell us what they know, even anonymously,” Ruotolo said.
According to officials, concerns about the welfare of the mother and son were raised when Uyar, 24, did not show up for work and the boy was not dropped off at day care on Friday.
Police checked on the family at their Rahway home, but no one was there.
An Amber Alert was issued and police from multiple local, state and federal agencies began a frantic search for the pair, believing Rios may have abducted them.
Uyar’s mother, Karen Uyar, told PIX11 News on Friday that Rios and her daughter have known each other since high school, but they haven’t been a couple since shortly after their son was born.
Since then, she said her daughter has been assaulted multiple times by Rios and has a restraining order against him.
“She was actually in the process of moving,” Karen Uyar said on Friday while the Amber Alert was still active. “We normally speak every day but I didn’t speak with her yesterday because she was busy packing and I didn’t want to bother. Unfortunately, we’re not positive over when he actually took them because none of us spoke with her yesterday.”
Rios remained in custody in Tennessee on Saturday, pending extradition to New Jersey. He was expected to face criminal charges in Union County Superior Court.
Anyone with information about the case was urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Johnny Ho at 908-403-8271 or Detective Richard Acosta at 908-347-0404.
