An alert Clearwater police officer spots a Maryland fugitive's car outside a hotel. The man leads police to his two missing sons.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published January 1, 2004
CLEARWATER - The search for a father accused of abducting his two sons from Maryland ended after a veteran Clearwater police officer spotted the fugitive's car in a hotel parking lot.
Robert H. Munson, 26, was arrested on fugitive warrants charging him with child abduction and violating a protective order. He was being held without bail at the Pinellas County Jail Wednesday awaiting extradition to Maryland.
Maryland authorities said Munson took his sons, age 3 and 6, in mid December. They had been placed in the care of a grandmother because Munson was suspected of abusing and neglecting the boys.
Maryland authorities tracked Munson to the Tampa Bay area, then issued an alert to local police agencies asking them to keep an eye out for Munson or his car, a red 1989 Chevrolet Beretta.
Clearwater police Officer Robert Smyth decided to cruise some hotels on U.S. 19 Tuesday night to see if he could spot the car. He saw it at the Hampton Inn, 21030 U.S. 19 N, then saw Munson.
Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said Smyth had a hunch he might find Munson at a hotel along U.S. 19. The red Beretta caught his eye because it was backed into a space, often a sign the driver is trying to hide the tag.
Officers took Munson into custody, but his boys weren't at the hotel.
Police then got Munson to take them to a rental unit in St. Petersburg, where the boys were staying with their mother and some of her acquaintances. The boys later were taken into state protective custody. Their grandparents were traveling to Clearwater on Wednesday to pick them up, police said.
The ordeal began in early December when Munson and his girlfriend, Crystal Burdette, were living with his mother in Chesapeake Beach, Md. Burdette is the children's mother.
Munson's mother told them they couldn't stay there. She offered to keep the boys while her son and Burdette got jobs and got settled. Not long after, Munson and Burdette broke into her home and stole the boys' Christmas gifts, said Detective Rob Payne of the Maryland State Police.
The boys' grandmother then petitioned the state for custody of the boys. She told authorities she had seen her son hit the oldest boy, breaking his glasses. She said the boys were neglected and, at times, lived in their father's car, Payne said.
"Even when they went to school, they would tell teachers they didn't have a home," Payne said.
The state granted the grandmother custody on Dec. 15. But Munson refused to turn over the boys, Payne said.
That's when police say he took Burdette and the boys South. Munson called a relative on Dec. 21 to report they were in Florida, where both he and Burdette have family, Payne said.
Payne traced phone calls made by Munson to a Kmart in Clearwater and a convenience store in Tampa. Payne said he believed Munson and his sons were staying in low-rent hotels or were living out of their car.
Once police had Munson in custody, they treated him kindly in hopes he would lead them to the boys.
"They were disarming instead of intimidating," Shelor said.
Shelor said when officers found the boys, they were unhurt. Payne said Burdette will not face extradition to Maryland because police can't prove she knew the boys had been abducted. They know Munson knew because he had been served with an order to turn the children over to his mother, Payne said.
Munson faces an extradition hearing Tuesday.
Payne said his investigation has revealed the boys want to be with their grandmother.
"They were scared and probably hungry," he said.
After their father's arrest and before they were picked up by a state caseworker early Wednesday morning, the boys sat at the Clearwater police station, chomping on fried chicken and watching a movie about dinosaurs with a police detective.
