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Abducted 5-year-old is home safe
By NATALIE BAUGHMAN © St. Petersburg Times, published October 6, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- The 5-year-old girl who was taken off her school bus Wednesday by a woman claiming to be her mother was returned home unharmed early Thursday morning. School officials are trying to determine whether proper procedures to release a child to an adult were followed. Police brought Aleyah L. Conway to her mother, Kimberly Turnquist, 25, about 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Police have charged Aleyah's father and his girlfriend. Police arrested Walter Conway III, 33, and Kaydian N. Francis, 18, both of 8400 Bay Pines Blvd., Apt. 2, and charged them with interference with child custody. Police say Francis took the girl off the bus at Woodlawn Elementary School, 1600 16th St. N. Conway and Francis were held at the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bail each. Conway had come to the school's main office at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to pick up Aleyah. But school administrators turned him away because his name wasn't on the approved list of emergency contacts. Turnquist has had full custody of the child since she and Conway separated two years ago. Conway had never expressed interest in taking custody of his daughter, Turnquist said Thursday. Francis went to the busing circle of Woodlawn at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday and asked to take the girl off the bus. She told school staff that she was Aleyah's mother. The assistant who rides the bus allowed Aleyah to leave with Francis because the other children on the bus said Francis was her aunt, said Ron Stone, spokesman for Pinellas County schools. Francis then took Aleyah to the apartment she shared with Conway. Meanwhile, Turnquist was searching for her daughter. "I knew something was wrong when Aleyah didn't get off the bus," she said. "I immediately started making phone calls to try to find her." Turnquist called the school, but administrators said they didn't know Aleyah's whereabouts. She then called police, who began searching for the girl. She also talked to neighborhood children, trying to find someone who knew what had happened. Other children who ride the bus told Turnquist that a woman had picked her up shortly after she got on the bus. They said they thought she was a relative. "I couldn't believe the school let her leave with that woman," Turnquist said. "Obviously I have some security concerns." Pinellas County school policy states that schools will release students only to adults whose names are listed on emergency cards, Stone said. In order to pick up a child, parents or guardians must go to the main office and identify themselves. An administrator will then get the child. But the policy is different on buses because drivers can't access emergency card information, Stone said. Drivers and their assistants have the discretion to release children to adults if they recognize the adult as a parent or guardian. "Buses are more vulnerable to potentially dangerous situations because there's no sure way to check a person," Stone said. "It's more of a judgment call." The school district's Office of Professional Standards was interviewing witnesses in Aleyah's case Thursday to determine if school officials violated the policy, Stone said. "There should have been a more thorough job done by the driver and the bus assistant -- no doubt about it," Stone said. "The only thing that mitigates that is the fact that the children on the bus identified the woman as Aleyah's aunt." Turnquist kept Aleyah home from school Thursday -- surrounding her in a familiar environment to make her feel at ease again. The girl has not spoken much about the incident. "We're not pushing her at this point," Turnquist said. "We're still not sure how she'll react to all of this."
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