Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Religious Fanatic Dad Kidnaps Tot, ON THE RUN NOW

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Florida boy, JoJo Morales, 6, missing after being kidnapped by his religious fanatic dad. Police believe 45-year-old Jorge Morales planned his disappearance act for more than a year, before taking his autistic son. The senior Morales' mother, 68-year-old Lilliam Pena Morales, is also missing.  Mom Yanet Concepcion arrived at her ex-husband's home to pick up her son, finding it empty.  Last week, a private investigator working the case found an abandoned SUV containing items belonging to the little boy — in Maine very near the Canadian border.  The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has issued an Amber Alert for JoJo, and US Marshals have offered a $10,000 reward.   Joining Nancy Grace Today: Yanet Concepcion - Victims Mother, GoFundMe.com/f/wepca-10000 Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, Author: "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future", www.KSFamilyLaw.com, Instagram: @rkessler23, Twitter: @GADivorce Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), PantherMitigation.com, Twitter: @TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology" Joe Carillo - Private Investigator, Leverage Investigations, LeveragePI.com, Facebook.com/Leveragepi, Founder: Bringing Them Hom Project, bringingthemhomeproject.com Marc Klaas - Founder, KlaasKids Foundation, www.klaaskids.org, Twitter: @PollyDad David Neal - Staff Writer, Miami Herald, Twitter: @DavidJNeal, Instagram: @Natalyasdad See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Every day, most of us bring our children home. We call for them. They come running. They hop in the car when they're supposed to. They're in their beds when you go to wake them up in the morning. That is not the case for mom Janet. Her six-year-old little boy, Jojo, seemingly vanishes into thin air.

There is still a chance to bring JoJo home alive. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to this. This is an Amber Alert. There are certain criteria that need to be met for that to be issued. Among them, law enforcement needs to believe that there's a chance that the child could be in harm's way. So let's show you who he is. This is the boy.

His full name is Jorge Gabriel Morales. His nickname is Jojo. He is a six-year-old boy with autism. He's got brown hair, brown eyes, about three feet tall, weighing about 50 pounds. He does have a scar under his right eye. First of all, I want to go out. We've got an all-star panel joining us, but first I want to go out to Jojo's mother, Janet Concepcion, joining us.

Janet, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Janet, explain to me how his autism is affecting him. It's such a wide spectrum. Very often, autistic children can be streamlined into school. People that don't understand autism would never suspect there's any autism at all. Tell me about your son, six-year-old Jojo's autism. How can he function? Through therapy that we have been working very hard with him,

he's able to communicate now and express himself. Sometimes he can express what he wants and feelings. He doesn't have a normal conversation that two adults can have or a normal six-year-old can have, but he's very expressive now and he can walk up to somebody and just by looking at their car keys, tell them that he has this type of car or that other type of car. He's just very factual. He won't have a normal um interaction just observant like he he can walk up to somebody and tell them that their pants are blue um but he he's

communicating now he he walks on his tippy toes um that's very um normal of him um he he does movement with his hands when he's happy he flaps flaps the hands. When he's angry, he also flaps the hands, but in a very particular way. He gets on the corners. He used to sometimes hit himself not anymore through therapy. We have worked through that, and we have advanced a lot. But overall, he's on the higher end of the spectrum thankfully and he's able to to communicate and we're hoping with more therapy he can function as a normal person and be part of the community as a normal person and socialize normally like other kids right now he plays very parallel to um he doesn't like playing with other kids. He just likes to watch them. But we're

working on a lot with him. How old was Jojo when you found out he's autistic? We had suspicions from teachers that would tell us that they had a suspicion around two years old and he was officially diagnosed at the age of three through a neurologist. Once he was diagnosed with a neurologist, Janet, what did you go through trying to help him? How much therapy, how many doctors have you seen along with Jojo, your six-year-old son? We went through a special program from the community, the Miami Day. It's called Early called early steps when the school gets uh professionals together to observe him and create a very specific plan for his own education and then that transitions into an iep program which is individualized um education for him. They meet with psychology, speech therapy, behavioral therapist. We all get

together. They observe him. They run tests. They play with him. And they create a very specific plan for his school. We have a board behavioral therapist. And the school with the behavioral therapist and the speech therapy work together so that my son can go to a normal classroom with regular kids. But he has a behavioral therapist with him all the time helping him through because he needs a lot of attention. And he needs transitioning from one activity to another one takes a toll on him. So they have that behavioral therapist with him working all the time and rewarding him for changes and helping him through. So he is basically an A student, and he does pretty well with the behavioral therapist next to him.

With me is JoJo's mother, Janet. I'm looking at the panel of really all-star experts we have, and I want to go to high-profile Atlanta trial lawyer, Emory Law School professor, past chair of the American Bar Association Family Law Section, author of Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids, and Your Future. That's Randy Kessler. And one of my personal heroes, Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation at KlassKids.org.

When his daughter, Polly, was kidnapped, he has since devoted his life to helping find missing people. You know, Randy and Mark, the reason I'm going to you right now is because we've known each other for so long. I'm sure you recall the time that my son, John David, had a horrible blow to the head. And he was in the hospital for almost a week. And I slept with him every night. And every night I was wondering, what's going to happen? How is this going to affect him? What will his future be? And they were giving us all these dire predictions about what had happened to John David. And

I'm happy to report, knock on wood, at this moment, he's got all a's in high school and he's six foot five and seemingly everything is okay but randy i remember those moments when uh we were in the hospital days trying to figure out how badly he had been hurt and i'm hearing janet concepcion describe everything she's been through with her son just trying to help him forward one inch in life and now some a-hole takes him yeah you know look it's it's a i'm so glad and honored to be on with you and with mark who you know and when we've been talking about things like this for years and years and years and it just doesn't stop mark class what? Well, there's obviously no better advocate for this child on Earth than his mother. And she's doing absolutely everything she can to give him a good life.

And then to have him just snatched away like that could cause irreparable harm. I think that people have to be aware that Jojo needs his mother and his mother needs Jojo. And that should be all anybody needs to be on the lookout for this little boy and to make a report to law enforcement should they see him. My concern is if someone does see him, say he's in a convenience store or something, he's not going to be able to just go up to a stranger. I'm sure he's upset. And you heard his mother say he flaps his hands, which is very a stranger. I'm sure he's upset. And you heard his mother say he flaps his hands, which is very common amongst autistic children, if he's happy, you know, like at a birthday party or something balloons making him happy. But then it takes on a different tenor when he's upset and he may not be able to react in a way that people can understand him because he's under so much stress

because he's away from his mother guys take a listen our friends at wplg 10 detectives are considering this a kidnapping case which is why that amber alert is in effect these are the billboards you'll likely see on major highways throughout South Florida. The hope is that with an Amber Alert out, we'll be able to track down little Jorge Morales or Jojo, as they call him. Now, we do know that perhaps the child may be taking some type of medication. Now, it's already gone three to four days without that medication. So now we start, our investigators get a little concerned. Of course, he is off his medication. We don't know how he's going to respond to strangers, to being away from his mother and his routine.

That's hard. Dr. Sherry Schwartz is joining us. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, you know her well, forensic psychologist, and you can find her at panthermitigation.com. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, nobody likes to be taken out of their routine. Nobody. AutismRerogation.com. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, nobody likes to be taken out of their routine. Nobody, especially children and especially a child with autism. You take them out of their routine and it greatly disturbs them. they can go on to sensory overload really quickly. So any subtle changes in the environment, things that maybe make noise that would be nothing to the rest of us could actually trigger an emotional response, that sensory overload in an autistic child.

So this, you know, I'm listening to everyone, and I'm thinking, you know, his autism might actually, those movements, those motor movements and that sensory overload might actually help draw attention to him in a public setting. I pray to God you're right. Now take a listen to our friends at WFOR and PLG. That is a six-year-old boy with autism. No one has heard from them now for two days and his mother is desperate to get him back home. My biggest accomplishment has just been taken away from me. I just miss him so much.

Janet Leal Concepcion is beside herself, unable to sleep, unable to eat, totally devastated that her six-year-old son Jojo has been missing since Saturday. Missing since Saturday. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, with me is Janet Concepcion, his mother, and also Mark Klass. Mark, every hour that goes by is another hour. I think of it as 60 mph, 60 miles away further per hour. What should police be doing right now? And why did it take so long to get up an Amber Alert? You know what? Why rehash what went wrong? How can an Amber Alert help find JoJo? Well, first of all, Nancy, waiting a week to issue an Amber Alert almost undermines the whole concept behind the Amber Alert, which is exactly what you said.

A mile a minute, that's how fast your child can disappear. So given the fact that it's been a week, that child could theoretically be absolutely anywhere in the world. And I think that local authorities have to re-educate themselves on the whole issue of abduction and the issue of amber alerts. This isn't something that's supposed to be rolled out a week later. This is something that's supposed to happen within hours of the child disappearing. And this is the situation here. The little boy is gone. He's missing. There are other circumstances that point to the fact that he might not be coming right back home. Therefore, you have to do everything within your power, particularly given the fact that he's a special needs child.

You have to do everything within your power to alert the community immediately so that they can be part of the solution. Now we're learning more about who took Jojo. Take a listen to our friends at CBS4. George Morales is just six years old. He also goes by Jojo and it's believed that he was kidnapped by his father and grandmother. Now that happened just hours after Jojo's mother was granted full custody. Now take a look at this flyer. These are the people who are believed to be with JoJo. Now his mother, Ines Concepcion, tells us he is autistic and was last seen in Homestead. She believes his father may hurt him because of something he told his son. To Janet Concepcion, this is JoJo's mom.

What do you believe the father told the son? My son repeats a lot and again, not a normal conversation. He would just pace around my house every time that he'll be upset and say that his dad would tell him that he had to go to heaven before seven or eight. And he just he constantly repeated that. And I was very concerned. So we we the procedures we went to court. That's why I was granted overnight. And, but still he, he would have found a way.

Let me understand, Janet, you're saying that Jojo's dad told him that he, Jojo, would have to go to heaven before he turned seven or eight? Yeah, my son will repeat that and I will ask him, but who's saying that? And he'll tell me, but Pastor, we have to go to heaven before seven or eight. And that's my biggest fear, that

that's his plan. Guys, take a listen now to our friends at WFOR. Now, as I mentioned mentioned jojo's mother was granted full custody but she says when she went to pick her son up from the apartment her ex-husband lives with his mom there was nothing there and all of their numbers are now disconnected now concepcion says her son is extremely smart knows her phone number by heart but is unable to have a normal conversation. I just want my baby back. I really do. There's nothing I wouldn't do in the world to have my baby back.

And right now the FDLE joining the search for a missing boy with autism. Authorities say six-year-old Jojo has not been seen since Saturday. He is believed to have been taken by his father, 45-year-old Jorge Morales. He and the child's mother have had a contentious custody battle since they split three years ago. The family went to pick up Jojo from Morales' house in southwest Miami-Dade along Southwest 184th Avenue Saturday evening, but the two of them were nowhere to be found. And more from PLG. When Concepcion went to pick him up Saturday evening, as was the plan,

no one came out to bring him to her. Police came and the landlord opened up the apartment, but everything was gone and there was no sign of Jojo, his father or his grandmother. We were all trying to call him. What's up? Everything from all sources, all phones, and they're gone. Their car was nowhere to be found either. Police are actively searching for him. Janet Concepcion, Jojo's mom. Janet, you had just gotten full custody. Is that right? No, we had overnight. The dad was not allowed to have overnight after the incident where we went to court. And when we got granted full custody and full decision making the Monday after he disappeared, so that the police could have more weight on the search, because as long as he had some kind of custody, they couldn't do much. I understand. Question to you. I don't understand why he had the ability after he told the little boy he had to go to heaven before age seven or eight, why he had custody at all. But let me understand this. Randy Kessler joining me, high profile lawyer out of Atlanta. You know, I've repeated this quote many, many times, but a dear friend of mine that's a defense attorney says she would

rather try a drug lord or a murder case as opposed to a divorce or child custody case because she's always afraid one of the parties is just going to shoot her. These custody battles are so contentious. And I think JoJo's father was furious. He didn't get what he wanted. Nancy, not only prosecutors, but also judges, any judge that tries a custody trial will tell you the same thing. I've been doing this 35 years and without exception, nobody likes handling custody matters because you can't get it right.

There's competing, you know, dilemmas. You want children to have a relationship with both parents. You're trying to make sure that dad and mom both get to be in a child's life, but you're also trying to protect the innocent child. It's, it's just, sometimes there's no right answer. And, you know, I I'm sure this judge was trying to do what he or she thought was the right thing. Oh my goodness. Uh, you know, that's, that judge was trying to do what he or she thought was the right thing. Oh, my goodness. You know, that's that's a good reason not to be a judge.

Exactly. I mean, we can look back and say woulda, coulda, shoulda all day long, but it's not helping. Find Jojo right now. This little boy, six years old, snatched away from his routine, his home, his mother on the run with a father who's apparently lost his mind and the grandma the paternal grandma is the hench person of all things i'm sure she's blind to everything her son the father has done take a listen to our friend leanne morjan this area where we're standing right now is the place that he was last seen on aug 27th. This is in rural southwest Miami-Dade. It's where the grandmother picked up little JoJo, just six years old,

and he hasn't been seen since. We also want to mention that this has been upgraded to an Amber Alert. We had mentioned for the last couple of days that he'd been missing. Now this is an Amber Alert. Okay, straight out to special guests joining us, David Neal with the Miami Herald. You can find him on Twitter at David J. Neal and on Insta at Natalia's Dad. David, thank you for being with us. Describe this area for me where the little boy is last seen and the grandma is the one who picked him up, right? Yeah.

Yes. From what we know uh from what police told us and the the area is it's in southwest uh miami-dade county it's very it's very it's like suburbia suburbia it's it's rural um there's as much as south florida is being based on real estate and tourism, there are going to be more places built there all the time and the rural area gets smaller, but it's not as heavily traveled as, say, more well-known Miami places such as downtown or Little Havana or South Beach. Out in a rural area. Joining me right now is Joe Carrillo, private investigator with Leverage Investigations,

LeveragePI.com, founder of Bringing Them Home Project. Joe, thank you for being with us. How would that affect how this boy was kidnapped and our chances of finding him that he's taken from a rural area jojo's father uh george morales senior planned this for over a year and when he instigated his plan on the 27th 7th of august uh it began to fall apart within 24 hours i can't get into any more details. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. You can't give any more details? Okay, details about what? Well, there's people that assisted him and have come forward to give information.

And that's why I can tell you that his plan began to fall apart. He abandoned the vehicle. Okay, hold on just a moment. Can we talk about the initial kidnap, where it was, and why that location will help or hinder finding him? I don't think the location where he was picked up does anything to help us or hinder to find him. I think what's going to help us find him is the amount of help that now is out there and the amount of eyes that now are out there and the understanding on uh the beliefs that george senior had and uh where he's going with his fanatical beliefs uh what what okay what fanatical beliefs uh you know when when when when when a child of six years old comes home uh begins to recite things like he did, like Daddy has this rhyme that I'm going to be in heaven by the time I'm seven. And I see those videos that shows me a very, very deranged father.

We have tied him to certain organizations that also have the type of fanatical views that he has, that the world is ending and cryptocurrency is going to take off and I need to live off the grid. Well, he certainly is in an area to live off the grid. And understanding those beliefs, Nancy, is what led us to the area that we're searching now. Hold on one moment. I'm going to get to the search area we're at right now. But first, I want you to hear our cut 14, Jackie. This is Bridget Matter at WPLG.

She says he spent time researching living off the grid. And last September, her son began making cryptic comments. Inception recorded some of these conversations. Mommy will protect me. He commented to me that he's, I wanted to take him to live in a farm with windmills and he wanted me to go with him. When Concepcion went to pick up her son as part of a custody exchange in late August, they had picked up and left. Okay, let me get down to it. Mark Klass, joining me, founder of Klass Kids Foundation, living off the grid. That is going to hinder finding JoJo.

But on the other hand, law enforcement knows exactly who they're looking for. And they know about him. Apparently, they know organizations that he has associations with. So this whole idea of living off the grid, I can't even imagine it. You would just need to have so much gear, so much knowledge, so much money to be able to do that successfully.

It's only a matter of time, Nancy, before this guy makes an appearance. And it's only a matter of time before somebody recognizes exactly what's going on here. So I think that they're at a great advantage just simply knowing who has the boy and who he's connected with, what his beliefs are. You're right, Mark Klass, you're right. And to you, Dr. Sherry Schwartz, following up on what Mark Klass just said, what does it mean to you? What kind of people want to go live off the grid? Well, people that want to go live off the grid, generally speaking, are trying to hide from

something. They're trying to run from something. They don't want the authorities poking around. And so if he is involved in known sort of off the grid groups, once the police, law enforcement, federal authorities start poking around, it's highly likely people will talk because the other people involved in these organizations don't want law enforcement around. Absolutely not. Randy Kessler, the off the grid factor in this case is very disturbing. And not only only that claimed fanatical beliefs on the part of the father seeming religious beliefs and it reminds me of cult mom Lori Vallow who was willing to kill two of her children have them killed because of her fanatical religious beliefs.

You know it's cases like these and like that one that actually help other families. When I'm in court arguing in a custody situation where there are these signs and indicators, it does happen. They're the outliers. They're rare. But when they happen, the ramifications are devastating. And, you know, it does happen. Human beings are not all nice people. This is just a terrible situation. You know, hindsight's 20-20. I wish the judge had seen this coming. I wish the mom had seen this coming.

But who would believe that a father could do something like this? It's just, it's beyond comprehension. Take a listen to our cut nine from WPLG Local 10. This is his father. He's also named Jorge Morales. He is 45 years old with brown hair, brown eyes, and is six feet tall. Yesterday, Miami-Dade police announced that together with the state attorney's office, they issued a warrant for his arrest for illegally taking JoJo. He does not have overnight custody of him.

His grandmother picked him up from his mom's house here in deep southwest miami-dade on august 27th and when mom went to pick him up he was nowhere to be found and hasn't been heard from since to jojo's mom janet joining us everybody by the way there was a ten thousand dollar reward to help find jojo ten thousand dollars offered by the u.s marshals The tip line is 1-888-FL-MISSING. Florida missing. 1-888-FL-MISSING. 1-888-356-4774. Janet, what type of fanatical religious beliefs do you know what's going on in your husband's mind i have no idea ever since i divorced him um he became a complete different person he every time i will pick up my son he would tell me that he needed to pray the demons out of my head and that i would go to hell

because he could only get married once in in lifetime. And everybody that got divorced was going to go to hell. And then my son would repeat certain things about the devil all the time. And he'll sit down and think of the devil is coming and the world is ending. And these are all very concerning. I mean, as a six-year-old, I mean, let's talk about candy. Let's talk about something else. And it was very concerning to me. And I would sit with my son.

Every time that I would get him from him, I would have to sit with my son and explain to him that the devil is not out to get him, that nobody's out to get him, that he's only six years old. And I would try to just get that in his head. Even though he didn't fully comprehend what he was saying because of the autism. He would just repeat words. But it was still very concerning, even though he didn't know what he meant, you know.

And his dad just became a person that I don't know. I don't know this person. I don't know this guy. And people keep asking me about him. I don't know him. I don't know this guy. I don't know what he became. I have no idea what happened to him did he start morphing into a religious fanatic during the marriage did you see it happening or did it happen after you guys split

up it was after we split up and I know he was going to church and he became very involved in church and then after around a year uh around a year and a half um they stopped going to church and i and i asked my son because i will ask him hey did you go to church do you see your friends and he told me no we don't go to that church anymore the church is praising the devil too and that's what my son would tell me so i don't know if they were going to another church. Okay, wait a minute. A six-year-old little boy, obviously repeating what his father had said, says the church was praising the devil? Yes.

You know, Dr. Sherry Schwartz, even little children that don't have autism, so-called normal children, are afraid of the devil. When my children first saw somebody dressed up like the devil at Halloween, they were so, we had not talked about the devil per se or Satan. They got so scared. They were really little. They wouldn't even say the word devil. They still to this day call Satan the D guy. They will not even say the name like Voldemort. You're not supposed to say his name or let me conjure him up. Much less this fear to an autistic child.

Well, and the thing is, when we're told stories about Satan and the devil, it is a form of social control, right? To try to control someone's behavior and get them on a path that is opposite of whatever the devil stands for. So you're absolutely right. When you're saying this to a child, the images that this conjures for a child, and in particular a special needs child, is something that, it's cruel. It's a level of cruelty. I can't imagine anyone doing that to a child let alone their parents

crime stories with nancy grace Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, the situation for Jojo is so serious. He is with his religious fanatic father and the hench person, believe it or not, the grandma. Janet, what about this grandma? How does she get roped into this? she agrees with all this religious fanaticism um she moved back in when i when i divorced um her son and um and they were always together they isolated everybody else they pushed away everybody else and it was just her him and that was it um she when i got divorced she made sure to tell me that she was going to show me what a divorce was. And ever since it's just being a bottle and she has never agreed with the divorce. Also saying that that's a devil thing to do. And, and she she just became her advocate. And no one nobody else wouldn't because nobody else will advocate for him. So she just became her advocate when nobody else would

because nobody else would advocate for him. So she just became her advocate. Guys, let's go straight to our cuts 10 and 11. Take a listen to our friends at PLG. Here's another look at those involved. You see six-year-old Jorge Jojo Morales, his father, 45-year-old Jorge Morales. There is a warrant out for his arrest.

Police say that they may be accompanied by the boy's paternal grandmother, 68-year-old Lilian Pena Morales. She's the person that the mother says came to pick him up the day that he went missing. That was the last person to pick him up. She usually facilitates with the handoffs between mom and dad. Let's show you dad's car. This is a gray 2006 Ford Expedition with the license plate CSIU53. Local 10 did speak with the boy's mother on Monday about how she and JoJo's father have been in a contentious custody battle ever since they split up three years ago. She is begging for JoJo's safe return.

I'm afraid. I'm terrified. I'm really broken. I just wish that he would know that we're looking for him. And more from Bridget Matter. Listen. Days later, police found a potential clue close to 2 000 miles away this suv main state police say the three may have been in the suv it was found in littleton maine near the canadian border concepcion is working with private investigator joe carillo who's worked thousands of missing persons cases i think it's a very dangerous case. It's not the run of the mill. And with us, the private investigator who has handled literally thousands of missing persons cases, Joe Carrillo is with us with leverage investigations. Joe, I agree with you. This is not the run of the mill case.

Now, finding the SUV was significant, but I want to hear what you mean and all of your experience about this not being a run-of-the-mill case. Well, I think like the attorney is right on with he's saying that we have a very complacent attitude towards these child custody cases here in Miami. There was a lot of this evidence that's coming out now that you have heard and are putting on your show today of the videos of JoJo saying these horrible things, and the judges just would not have part of it. And I think that is to blame for the delay in the Amber Alert and so forth. There's a lot of emphasis being put on the father. I think

the grandmother needs to have a really hard look at it. I think she's the one driving this ship. You know, everybody has worked very hard. The Miami-Dade Police Department doing a parallel investigation that we've been doing on the ground has led us to a very remote area in Maine. It's an area that is exactly how JoJo has been describing where Daddy wanted to go to live. There are plenty of windmills up there, plenty of remoteness, and I think we're in the right area. The fact that the word is getting out now, I think we're going to have a good conclusion, and I think that conclusion is not going to take too long. But there is a lot to worry about with the father. I can tell you that the father is believed to be armed. And he's a very dangerous person. So if anybody sees him, do not approach him. I know everybody wants to go rescue a six-year-old child in need, but call the people

that know. I think we need to be very careful here. This is one of those cases that comes out of thousands that is a very dangerous custody case. You know, I think you're right. And Mark Klass joining us, a founder of Klass Kids Foundation who has worked as like Joe Carrillo on thousands of missing children cases. Mark, I'm afraid that if he's cornered, the dad may start shooting. Well, that's an obvious possibility. I'll tell you, Janet, listen, I've been through what you're going through. I was missing my child for two months. And what I can tell you is that you have to stay strong. You have to put your faith in law enforcement and in your private investigator. You have to strive to get sleep. You have to eat something. You have to

take care of your personal needs because Jojo needs you now more than he's ever needed you before. And if you just do those things and you stay strong, hopefully you'll get your child back sooner rather than later. And you can continue on with his healing and trying to ensure that he has the good life that he deserves. To you, Joe Carrillo, you were saying that you think the grandmother, the paternal grandmother, the father's mother is driving the bus. Why do you believe that?

Why would he fall for everything his mother says? I've got grown kids that are married and divorced, and a divorce is between a couple. But when the family members start to make threats during that divorce, very dangerous threats that the grandmother has made to Janet, then you come to not only the assumption, the knowledge that there's not one bad person here in Joseph's mother going along. There are two very bad people that took JoJo. To Janet, this is JoJo's mother. If the father, Jorge, can hear you right now, what is your message to him? To please do the right thing, not to stop being selfish. This is not about him.

This is not about me. This is about Georgie. And Jojo needs his routine. He needs his therapy. He needs his friends around. He needs to be doing the same thing he does every day. He needs to be setting up his alarms like he always does. And he needs to go back to his normalcy. He's putting him in danger. This is not normal for him. This is not a routine for him. And he needs his mother.

And just like he needs his mother, Georgie needs his mother too. You know, nobody better and capable to look out for their kids than a mother, you know. And so please do the right thing. Please do the right thing. Janet, let me understand what Joe Carrillo was saying, you showed a Florida judge these videos where JoJo's talking about his dad. It says he's going to go to heaven before he's seven or eight. And all the fear about the devil and how he's going to be an angel. You showed that to the judge and the judge still gave the dad partial custody.

We don't do videos on court. I don't think they're admissible, but we did document it. I did emergency motions and it's what we were all saying. They're trying to do the right thing by the kid and through documentation, we documented the things that my son was saying with my lawyer. I understand. Randy Kessler, such a video is allowed when an autistic child cannot speak as normal. That's a yes, no. Right. Yes. And family law is unique in that let it all in, figure out what's best. I know. I don't know what this judge was thinking, but here we are now. According to Joe Carrillo, he believes JoJo, a kidnapped six-year-old little autistic boy, is being held in a remote area of Maine near the Canadian border.

Please help us bring this child home alive. There is still time to save him. Tip line 1-888-FL-MISSING, 1-888-356-4774. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.