Seen on TV; Parents Arrested : Abandoned Child Identified by Boy, 5

A 5-year-old boy recognized a 7-year-old retarded former neighbor on television, leading to the arrest of a couple accused of abandoning their child at an Idaho rest stop.

“It’s fair to say the major break came from a 5-year-old,” said Ada County Sheriff Vaughn Killeen in Boise. “He pointed at the TV and said, ‘That’s Eddy.’ ”

Eddy Tuinman was found last week at a rest stop on Interstate 84 east of Boise. The boy, called “Johnny Doe” before he was identified, was discovered amid a pile of urine-soaked clothes, clad only in a T-shirt.

Edward Donald Tuinman, 29, and his wife, Deborah, 28, of suburban Sandy faced extradition proceedings in Salt Lake City today. They have been charged in Idaho with felony abandonment of a child.

Utah authorities said they also were investigating the possibility that Eddy was abused while in his home state.

Hospital officials in Boise said Eddy was developmentally disabled and unable to speak.

They also said he weighed 44 pounds and had healed fractures, bruises and cigarette burns on his body.

The Salt Lake-area couple were arrested by the Utah Highway Patrol in Nephi, 80 miles south of Salt Lake City, after Debbie Maddera of Salt Lake City, the mother of the 5-year-old who recognized the abandoned child, contacted Idaho officials.

The Tuinmans reportedly had stopped in Idaho while they were traveling from Washington to Sierra Vista, Ariz., looking for work.