Two Mount Vernon women were arrested Thursday at SeaTac Airport for the alleged kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy one of the women was fostering.
Amanda M. Dinges, 35, and her mother Amber L. Dinges, 60, were arrested after returning from Vietnam, where they had fled with the boy, police said. Both are charged with second-degree kidnapping and are currently being held at the Skagit County Community Justice Center in Mount Vernon.
The victim was located earlier this month by Diplomatic Security Service personnel at the United States Consulate in Hanoi, Vietnam, and brought back to Washington state, where he has been reunited with his mother, police said.
Amanda and Amber Dinges were located and returned to Washington on Thursday through a joint effort between the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Diplomatic Security Services, Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security.
The women will have their first court appearance Friday.
On Nov. 28, Child Protective Services notified Mount Vernon Police Department Amanda Dinges had possibly kidnapped the 5-year-old foster boy.
Investigators say Amanda Dinges has disconnected her phones and vacated her last known address. Police issued an arrest warrant for her.
On Nov. 29, investigators discovered Amanda and Amber Dinges had fled the country with the boy, who had been placed in Amanda Dinges’ care by the Department of Youth and Family Services.
On Dec. 2, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Amber Dinges, who was thought to be complicit in the alleged kidnapping.
Through interviews and data collected in 25 search warrants, police narrowed down the trio’s location to Thai Binh, Vietnam, a city 70 miles southeast of Hanoi.
The boy was found safe on Dec. 14.
