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Toddler reunited with his mom

The 3-year-old boy, missing since New Year's Eve, was returned to his family Monday afternoon while the man who took him was arrested.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 2, 2006

	Malachi Hopkins
	William Phillip Holland

TAMPA - After a nearly two-day search, Tampa police on Monday afternoon reunited a missing 3-year-old boy with his mother.

"Malachi is safe," Det. Robert Parrish smiled. "What a way to start off a new year."

At 2 p.m., police Sgt. Julie Massucci walked through the lobby of police headquarters in downtown Tampa and handed Malachi Hopkins over to his mother, who was waiting there with her 7-year-old daughter and friends.

Sylvia Hopkins gasped and ran to Malachi, swooping him up in her arms and squeezing him tight. Malachi, dressed in denim striped OshKosh B'Gosh overalls, clutched a plastic Spider-Man figurine. He stared at all of the television cameras.

"I'm just so happy he's back home," his mother said. "It's been pure hell."

Hopkins had not seen her son since 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, when former boyfriend William Phillip Holland took Malachi with him to a store near Hopkins' Robles Park apartment in central Tampa.

Holland, 27, told Hopkins he would return within a few minutes. When a few hours passed with no sign of Holland and Malachi, Hopkins called police.

Parrish said investigators worried about Malachi's health because he suffers from a severe asthma-like condition that requires treatment with an inhaler. He also has a speech impediment that makes it difficult for anyone but relatives to communicate with him.

Monday afternoon, shortly after Hopkins went to police headquarters to speak with Parrish, Holland returned to Robles Park with Malachi. A neighbor spotted the two and alerted police. Uniformed officers in the area hurried over, arrested Holland and took Malachi.

"He was going to try and bring Malachi back like nothing had happened," Parrish said.

Holland, who has a history of drug arrests in Baltimore, was booked into the county jail on one count of interfering with custody, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Parrish said Holland was "vague" about why he kept Malachi for nearly two days. When asked where he and the toddler were, Holland gave answers using street nicknames like, "I was with Delta and Unit 5 on Nebraska Avenue."

Now, detectives plan to look further into Holland's activities during the time he and Malachi were missing.

"I trusted him," Hopkins said of Holland. "I don't trust him anymore."

[Last modified January 2, 2006, 15:14:01]