A boy who was kidnapped from Atlanta in 2017 by his mother has been found in Colorado and will be reunited with his father, officials said Wednesday.
Colorado’s Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies discovered Abdul Aziz Khan, now 14, with his mother, Rabia Khalid, and a man, Elliot Bourgeois, while investigating a suspected burglary call.
A homeowner called 911 to report that someone illegally entered his vacant home. Deputies arrived and discovered two children, including Khan, and the two adults as they exited the house “claiming to be associated with a Realtor,” officials said in a news conference.
Khalid told law enforcement she did not have identification and the two couldn’t answer basic questions, so detectives were called to the scene to investigate, Sheriff Darren Weekly said.
“They knew something was up within the first few minutes of arriving, that things were not adding up,” Weekly said. “The stories weren’t fitting.”
Once law enforcement identified Khalid, they discovered her outstanding kidnapping warrant from Louisiana, where the child’s father and extended family lives, and realized the 14-year-old was a missing child.
Khalid, 40, and Bourgeois, 42, were arrested and face several charges, including conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping.
The case had been investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and was highlighted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It made national headlines and was featured on Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries” true crime documentary in 2022.
Officials declined to comment on the relationship between Khalid and Bourgeois at the news conference, but the NCMEC identified him as her husband. The couple allegedly took the young boy and fled from their Atlanta home in November 2017 after a court was set to award Khan’s father, Abdul Khan, full custody following a contentious legal battle.
The sheriff’s office said the multistep process to reunite Khan with his father is underway, and that the family has requested privacy. Weekly said Abdul Khan has not seen his son in nine years.
“This is the only life that Aziz has known,” Weekly said. “It is going to take some time.”
The family released a statement through the sheriff’s office commending the police work through the years and said they are “overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found.”
“As we navigate the next steps, we ask for privacy so that we can move forward as a family and heal together.”
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