Week-Old Baby Snatched By Fake Agent Found Safe

Week-Old Baby Snatched By Fake Agent Found Safe
Tenn. Officials: Woman Posing As Immigration Official Repeatedly Stabbed Woman In Home, Took Off With Newborn

A newborn boy abducted by a knife-wielding woman posing as an immigration agent was safe in the care of a foster family Saturday and awaiting a family reunion as authorities charged a woman with his kidnapping.

Nashville police said week-old Yair Anthony Carillo was found in good health at a home in Ardmore, about 80 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee line. Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Department of Children's Services, said it was unknown when Yair would be reunited with his mother.

The baby would remain with the foster family as authorities made arrangements for Maria Gurrolla, 30, to be reunited with her son.

"This baby is a week old, and this child has spent half his life away from his family. I think it's time we reunite them," said My Harrison, a special agent with the FBI in Tennessee.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn identified the arrested woman as Tammy Renee Silas, 39, of Ardmore. Federal authorities formally charged her Saturday with kidnapping. The Morgan County Sheriff's office said Silas was picked up by U.S. Marshals on Saturday morning, though it was not known where she was being taken.

The baby and Silas were found about 10 p.m. CDT in Ardmore, and Silas did not resist arrest, Gwyn said. Authorities said they had no word on a possible motive. Police in Nashville did not know if Silas has a lawyer.

The infant was taken from his home Tuesday, just four days after he was born. His mother told police a heavyset white woman with blonde hair arrived at her home posing as an immigration agent and attacked her with a knife.

At a Wednesday news conference, Gurrolla told reporters she had never seen the woman, who threatened to arrest her, then got a knife from the home and stabbed her several times.

"I need my baby back," the 30-year-old mother said Wednesday through an interpreter outside Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Gurrolla said she did not see the woman take the baby because she ran to a neighbor's home. The neighbor, Eric Peterson, told The Associated Press that Gurrolla was "covered from her head to her toe with blood" with gashes on her neck and upper chest.

Gurrolla asked him to save her children from the "lady in the kitchen" who had a butcher knife. When Peterson got there, he saw a woman speeding away from the home. He brought Gurrolla's 3-year-old daughter back safely to his house, but found no baby, he said.

A task force of local, state and federal investigators got a break when they developed strong information on a car seen following the mother and baby from the parking lot of a Walmart store, police said.

Gurrolla's home was quiet Saturday morning, where a cleaning crew had been working inside. Some neighbors had placed flowers outside the house, and many neighbors said they were relieved Yair had been found.

Brandon Anderson, 34, said he and his wife were careful when their 19-month-old son was born. The couple decided not to announce the birth with any signs or other markers outside their house, just a few doors down from Gurrolla.

"As a dad i wanted everyone to know, as a concerned parent we talked about it and through reason we thought it was a better idea not to have a sign outside," Anderson said.

Cathy Nahirny, a senior analyst for infant abduction cases at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said there have been at least two other recent cases where an abductor used a ploy similar to the one used in this case.

"We need to get the word out to our immigrant communities," Nahirny said. "Anybody that claims they are from federal law enforcement agencies, you have the right and you should ask for photo identification."

Abductions of infants by strangers are rare, with only nine reported cases so far this year and five last year, according to the missing child center.

Nahirny said immigrant families have been targets of child abductions because of the assumption they will not tell police.

Gurrolla is Latina but her immigration status isn't clear. She was released from the hospital Thursday.

Anna Morad, director of the newborn nursery at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville, said bonding between mom and child can resume after a separation at an early age. Such separations typically occur for medical reasons.

"There is no reason to believe that a mother separated from her infant could not resume normal bonding," said Morad, who noted she couldn't specifically talk about the Gurrolla case.

I'm glad the baby was found safe. There really are some crazy people in this world.

I just read that Gurrolla was briefly reunited with her baby, but then they took the baby and her three other children and put them in state custody for safety reasons. I really hope they had a good reason for doing that because the poor lady has already been through enough this week. Here is the link to the article. http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/tennessee-maria-gurrolla-loses-custody/694498

Wow...I wonder who the children are being keep away from...the parents or another possible abductor? Maybe the children weren't living in good conditions.

Is this the baby they think was possibly being sold?

This seems like a much bigger story!

Police Release New Information On Alleged Baby Kidnapper
Posted: Oct 12, 2009 7:54 AM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - New information about the woman accused of kidnapping a newborn and stabbing the baby's mother was available Monday morning.

A local newspaper reported that Tammy Silas went by a number of different aliases and has been associated with nearly 30 addresses in a half-dozen states.

The 39-year-old also has prior forgery convictions in Ohio, and she has been questioned in connection with an unsolved 2004 homicide case in Nashville.

Silas was still sitting in a Nashville jail cell Monday charged with kidnapping 4-day-old Yair Carillo nearly two weeks ago and attacking his mother, Maria Gurrolla.

Police arrested Silas in Ardmore, Ala., where her boyfriend said she'd told him she'd adopted the baby from a cousin in Texas and named him Martin.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11296882


Newborn, Other Children Returned To Mother

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Juvenile court officials said the Department of Children Services has dismissed its case Tuesday against Maria Gurrolla. The agency accused Gurrolla of trying to sell her infant.

Monday, sources close to the investigation into the kidnapping of Gurrolla's newborn baby boy, Yair Anthony Carillo, said DCS accused Gurrolla of trying to sell her infant. Gurrolla is the woman who was stabbed in her home and then had her then 4-day-old son abducted on Sept. 29.

After being without her infant son for a week, Gurrolla will have baby Yair and her three other children returned to her. DCS took Gurrolla's four children into custody over the weekend after filing paper work alleging Gurrolla tried to sell the baby.

"The only concern the department had about the children being with their mother was the allegations that there was baby selling involved, and the police department was investigating that," said children's attorney Thomas Miller.

Metro police said the infant and three other children were no longer in DCS custody after the parents, Maria Gurrolla and Jose Carrillo were ruled out as persons of interest in the case.

"We don't have information at this point to believe that the mother or the father are involved in any kidnapping scenario," said Metro police spokesman Don Aaron.

Although DCS has closed their case, investigators said they are not finished.

"Why was this particular newborn and why was this particular mother chosen from every other newborn and mother in Nashville?" said Aaron.

Late Friday, the FBI arrested 39-year-old Tammy Silas in Ardmore, Ala. Police charged Silas with the federal offense of kidnapping. She was also accused of attacking Gurrolla with a knife.

Court documents show Gurrolla told investigators after the attack she heard the suspect speaking on the phone. Gurrolla told an FBI agent her attacker said quote "the job is done" and "she [Gurrolla] was dying."

Investigators said they will be looking at phone calls made by the suspect after the attack.

When Maria Gurrolla picked up her children Tuesday she was no longer in a wheel chair. She continues to recover from injuries suffered in the attack.

The FBI is holding Silas in the Morgan County Jail in Alabama. She'll appear in federal court when U.S. Marshals bring her back to Nashville. No court date has been set.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11261356