Missing Mesa infant reunited with father after being found in California
Oct 5, 2017, 4:00 AM
(Facebook/Jacob Gouchenour)
PHOENIX — An infant child who was located in California on Monday after first being reported missing from Mesa with his mother in June has been reunited with his father.
William Jones-Gouchenour, 1, was reunited with his father Jacob Gouchenour on Tuesday, according to multiple posts on the man’s Facebook account.
Jacob posted a photo with his infant son on Wednesday, with the caption “Finally with my cute little boy.”
Another series of posts from Tuesday included several photos of the father and son, along with a photo of William with his father’s family and a video of Jacob helping William walk.
One of the Facebook posts read:
“I have waited for this day for a very very long time. My heart is so full of love and gratitude. It’s hard to believe this day has really come.
“I can finally be out of the nightmare of not knowing if my son is alright and not knowing where he is. Today is the result of countless prayers being answered.
“Today is the result of an online community of thousands of individuals who worked around the clock sleuthing and sharing this story to get the word out and bring my son home safe. I am honored and humbled to have so much support during all of this craziness.
“I’ll post more updates tomorrow. My first day being with him most of the day and I am wore out ha.”
William and his mother, Madeline Jones, were first reported missing in June by Madeline’s father Roland. The pair were located in Ramona, California, on Monday. Madeline was taken into custody shortly after and William was placed in CPS custody.
Madeline’s parents, Roland and Cassandra, were arrested on Sept. 27. They were first taken into custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport by Phoenix police, then turned over to Mesa police and arrested shortly after.
Their arrests come one day after police submitted charges against them for conspiring to commit interference in the disappearance of Madeline and William.
Roland and Cassandra told police that their daughter was going to retain an appellate attorney after she was granted joint custody of her son with Gouchenour, when she went missing.
Before she went missing, police documents detailed Madeline’s efforts to dye her hair and withdraw large amounts of cash.
Police said Cassandra “provided misinformation to purposefully mislead police when reporting Madeline and William missing, making bank withdrawals and providing cash to Madeline to assist in a ‘vacation,’ was present while Madeline changed her and William’s appearance,” court documents said.