Pamala Medlock

A suspect has been charged with kidnapping after she took a child hundreds of miles from his home during what was supposed to be a quick shopping trip in a neighboring city.

Pamala Medlock, 59, was jailed after an investigation concluded there was probable cause for her to be arrested on a kidnapping charge, which is a third-degree felony in Texas.

Local authorities report Medlock took 5-year-old Zechariah Sutton from his Overton home on Sunday morning around 11 a.m. Medlock is a longtime family friend of Zechariah and his grandmother, who is the child’s guardian. The grandmother allowed Medlock to take her grandson into Tyler to do some birthday shopping for the boy, who just turned 5 a few days ago, according to Smith County Sheriff Sgt. Larry Christian.

But when 16 hours passed and Medlock and Zechariah hadn’t returned, the grandmother got worried and called the sheriff’s department around 3 a.m. Additionally, the family hadn’t heard from Medlock because she doesn’t have a cell phone.

The disappearance launched an AMBER Alert around 7 a.m. Monday morning. According to authorities, the child was believed to be in danger because of Medlock’s mental state. Smith County investigator Sgt. Jason Railsback said Medlock had a history of narcotics usage and possible mental health issues.

Over 24 hours since the child was last seen, the pair on Monday around noon was spotted by a Texas State Trooper on Interstate 20 heading west in Mitchell County, near Colorado City. The city is about 400 miles from Overton.

Investigators detained and interviewed Medlock, who said she was heading toward Arizona, with Zechariah in tow, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said during a press conference on Tuesday morning. Smith said he couldn’t elaborate on further on Medlock’s mental state or her purpose for the trip.

Zechariah underwent a forensic interview in Sweetwater then returned to Smith County where Children’s Advocacy Center representatives “medically cleared” him to be “reunited with his family,” Smith said. Upon knowing her child was safe, the grandmother told our news partners at CBS19 she was “glad to have my baby back.”

Part of what led to Medlock’s arrest were statements she made in her interview with investigators compared to results of Zechariah’s forensic interview. Things in her story were “unfounded” and Medlock “just kept making excuses about why she did it,” Smith said.

Smith said Zechariah showed no signs of trauma, abuse or outcry toward his family or Medlock.

It’s unknown how many hours Medlock and Zechariah were traveling in a vehicle, but the current timeline shows Medlock took the child from Overton around 11 a.m. Sunday, was spotted on camera footage at a Tyler Walmart from around 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., then in Kaufman County on I-20 headed west around 5 p.m. Sunday. Smith said the two were also spotted at a toy store in Dallas.

Smith said there was no indication Medlock stopped at a hotel, but he said they stopped and slept a couple times at a roadside park.

Before locating Zechariah, Christian said on Monday during a press conference there wasn’t reason to believe she’d harm the child.

“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,” Christian said.

The family didn’t report the incident to law enforcement sooner because they had no previous red flags about Medlock and she had been a friend of the family for many years, Railsback said on Monday. She was at the home often, helping with homework or spending time with the family.

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Medlock was booked into the Mitchell County Jail on Monday on a $250,000 bond. Smith said she will be transferred to Smith County in less than 10 days unless she bonds out before then, which he does not expect.

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