COLUMBUS — New body cam footage shows the initial search for a missing 8-year-old before his body was found.
The body cam video began around 12:45 p.m. on Friday, June 28, the day 8-year-old Martonio Wilder was reported missing, our news partners at WBNS-10 TV reported.
In the video, an officer meets with Wilder’s mother, LaShanda Wilder outside her home on Olmstead Ave. Wilder appears to be very emotional in the video.
Most of Wilder’s responses to the officer have been redacted and her face has been blurred, but she can be heard wailing throughout the video as the officer works to gain information on where the boy could be.
“Do you mind if I go check inside the house? Ok let’s go in the house together,” the officer said.
Wilder explains to the officer that she had not seen her son since 9:30 p.m. when the family went to bed the night before, and he was gone when she woke up.
She also tells the officer the back door was left open overnight.
“Mom got up about 11:48 a.m., noticed that the back door was open and he’s run away three times before so if we can have units circulate some parks and areas around here we’re going to go ahead and search the house,” the officer said on the bodycam video.
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“I want my baby,” LaShanda can be heard saying in the background as the officer looked through the backyard.
Wilder told the officer Martonio had run away three times in the past.
“Why do you think he’s running away?” the officer asked.
Wilder’s answer is redacted, but the officer can be heard repeating her answers on his radio, “He’s a little unruly and there is a case worker and she’s like he probably got mad because she doesn’t give him what he wants so and he kind of has a habit of doing this I guess.”
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The officer then asked Wilder’s girlfriend, Johnna Lowe if she knew where he could be.
Lowe would later be charged along with Wilder for obstructing justice after they left during the investigation.
Police went door to door asking neighbors if they had seen the boy. Eventually, cadaver dogs were dispatched and Martonio’s body was discovered in the home’s attic.
Wilder and Lowe turned themselves into the police the next day. Both women are expected back in court on Tuesday.
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