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Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Read the latest story here.

A 5-year-old Smith County child went missing Sunday but was safely located Monday afternoon, according to local authorities. Area law enforcement were concerned about the mental health of the woman he was last seen with, causing them to believe he could’ve been in danger.

Zechariah Sutton was reported missing around 3 a.m. Monday after he didn’t return home to his Overton home after shopping with family friend Pamala Medlock. On Monday around 12:15 p.m., law enforcement reported he was found. Zechariah and Medlock were located in Mitchell County near Colorado City, headed west on I-20, according to Smith County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Larry Christian.

The child is “safe and appears to be unharmed,” Christian said. County investigators traveled to Mitchell County after he was found.

Before he was found, Zechariah was last seen by his family at 11 a.m. Sunday, according to Christian. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an AMBER Alert around 7 a.m. Monday morning, labeling the case as a child abduction with Medlock as the suspect. It was canceled once the child was found.

Christian said Zechariah’s grandmother, who is his legal guardian, allowed Medlock, 59, to take him from the home to go shopping for toys. Neither had been seen in person at that time, but camera footage gave investigators a few leads to follow.

Authorities believed Zechariah could’ve been in danger due to Medlock’s mental state, Christian said during a press conference Monday morning. Law enforcement in Rusk, Gregg and Smith counties report Medlock had a history of narcotics usage and possible mental health issues. The family didn’t speak out about any mental or drug issues and had no red flags about Medlock until Monday morning, according to Smith County Sgt. Jason Railsback.

“Just to be clear, we don’t believe at this time that Ms. Medlock would harm the child,” Christian said during the press conference. “It’s more of a circumstantial thing that she could get him in the middle of, especially if she does have some sort of an episode, and even with that past narcotic use, I don’t know what her mindset would be.”

According to Christian, Zechariah’s birthday was just a few days ago and the family said Medlock wanted to buy him some presents. This wasn’t an odd occurrence, as Medlock has been a friend of the family for several years and often spends time at the home. She’s taken Zechariah shopping before, helped with homework, and other basic things, according to Railsback, who leads the Crimes Against Persons Unit at the sheriff’s office.

Still camera footage placed Zechariah and and Medlock at the Troup Highway Walmart in between the hours of 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, just about 12 hours before the child was officially reported missing to law enforcement. Footage shows the pair walking into the store at 2:41 p.m. and also walking out together after shopping and purchasing toys.

Footage shows the two walking around the store with normal mannerisms, according to Railsback, who said Walmart saw no red flags in the interactions and said Zechariah didn’t appear to be scared or in distress at that time.

Camera footage also provided a photo of the black Jeep, which Smith County Sheriff’s Office said is the suspect vehicle, in the Walmart parking lot. Additionally, the vehicle was spotted around 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Kaufman County heading west toward Dallas on Interstate 20.

Later, the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office spotted the vehicle headed west on I-20 near Colorado City around noon, according to Christian.

Although the AMBER Alert didn’t come in until 7 a.m., Zechariah’s grandmother reported the incident to law enforcement around 3 a.m. at which time investigators became heavily involved in working to locate the child.

The grandmother didn’t report it to police sooner because of the nature of Medlock and Zechariah’s relationship, Railsback said. Because Zechariah had gone out with Medlock in the past and she’s a close family friend, his guardians had no reason to worry.

But as the day went on and they still hadn’t heard from Medlock, who doesn’t have a cell phone, family began to worry.

“I believe it was one of those things where they didn’t think it could happen to them, so they were waiting for time to pass and eventually the grandson would return, that turned out to not be the fact, they stayed up ‘til about 3 in the morning waiting on this to happen and decided to call law enforcement to get us involved,” Railsback said.

Zechariah is a pre-K student at Arp ISD, according to the district. The district sent out an alert to the district community and asked for prayers for a safe and prompt recovery.

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If you have any information about the case, contact the Smith County Sheriff’s Office at (903) 566-6600.

AMBER Alerts can be issued only if the missing persons case meets certain criteria:

• Is this child 17 years of age or younger, whose whereabouts are unknown, and whose disappearance law enforcement has determined to be unwilling which poses a credible threat to the child’s safety and health; and if abducted by a parent or legal guardian, was the abduction in the course of an attempted murder or murder?

OR

• Is this child 13 years of age or younger, who was taken (willingly or unwillingly) without permission from the care and custody of a parent or legal guardian by:
• Someone unrelated and more than three years older, or another parent or legal guardian who attempted or committed murder at the time of the abduction?
• Is this child in immediate danger of sexual assault, death or serious bodily injury?
• Has a preliminary investigation verified the abduction and eliminated alternative explanations for the child’s disappearance?
• Is sufficient information available to disseminate to the public to help locate the child, a suspect, or the vehicle used in the abduction?

Source: Texas Department of Public Safety