Mother Held After Missing Anaheim Boy Is Discovered at Her Home in Fontana

An overnight search for 7-year-old Eduardo Serrano Jr., who was last seen playing in a schoolyard Monday morning, ended 24 hours later when police detectives discovered the boy at his mother’s Fontana home, police said.

The mother, Lorene C. Serrano, was arrested on suspicion of felony child stealing Tuesday morning and was being held at Anaheim City Jail, Anaheim Police Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said.

The boy was in the middle of a custody dispute between his parents, police and relatives said. The elementary school boy was living with his father, Eduardo Serrano Sr., and his stepmother, Patricia Serrano, in Anaheim.

“He was located,” Hedgpeth said. “He’s fine; he’s not been harmed.”

Relatives of the father, who nervously waited for word from police throughout the night, said that they were not surprised to hear that the boy was found at his mother’s house.

“I knew it deep down inside me that she had him,” said Louisa Obbards, the boy’s great aunt, as she and other family members waited in the police lobby while the boy and father were reunited.

Before Eduardo was found, more than 25 police and Eagle Scout volunteers combed a 20-block area between the boy’s West Canary Street apartment and Adelaide Price Elementary school, Hedgpeth said.

Eduardo was reported missing after 2:40 p.m. on Monday, when a baby-sitter who was to bring him home did not find him at the school, Hedgpeth said.

The search continued until 2:30 a.m., but was called off. When reached by police Monday night, Lorene Serrano denied that the boy was there, and a polygraph test was scheduled because detectives were suspicious of the boy’s mother, Hedgpeth said. He said police had been notified earlier of a restraining order against her.

At about 9 a.m., a detective went to Lorene Serrano’s Fontana home to escort her to take the lie detector test. But when he knocked on her door, no one answered. Sitting in his car, several minutes later, he spotted the boy walking outside the apartment.

The mother came out after the detective picked up Eduardo, and both the parent and the child were escorted back to Anaheim, Hedgpeth said.