Devon Denman found safe in New Mexico following kidnapping
Gallup, NM (KSDK) -- New Mexico authorities are searching for a mother and her new boyfriend who are accused of kidnapping her son, Devon Denman, from Miller County, Missouri, and firing shots at police while the missing boy was inside a stolen vehicle.
Police are searching for convicted felon Elizabeth Denman, Devon Denman's mother, and Mark A. Cochran, a registered sex offender.
New Mexico State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said a trooper tried to stop a vehicle that had a burned out headlight around 12:15 a.m. Mountain Time outside Gallup, in western New Mexico. The trooper determined the car was stolen from Missouri and tried to question the driver and the passenger, but they drove off. Speeds during the chase exceeded 100 miles-per-hour. The suspects' vehicle ran over stop sticks and the tires blew out. The car eventually stopped and the suspects' fired shots at New Mexico State Police officers. No one was injured in the shooting.
Lt. Garcia said Elizabeth Denman and Mark Cochran ran away. Officers checked the vehicle and found the five-year-old boy in the backseat. He was not hurt and was taken into protective custody by the New Mexico State Police.
Investigators are searching a 200 square-mile area by air and on the ground for Elizabeth Denman and Mark Cochran.
Gallup, New Mexico is nearly 1,000 miles from the boy's father's home in Lake Ozark, Missouri.
Detectives and a member of the family are expected to be flying out to New Mexico later this morning to get Devon Denman and return him to Missouri.
Larry Denman is the grandfather of Devon Denman. Devon's 20-year-old brother called Larry Denman at 7:00 a.m. to tell him that Devon had been found and that he was safe.
"I'm on top of the world right now," said Larry Denman. "This is the kind of thing that you see on the news and you hear about it happening to other people and then when it happens to you, you think to youself how do you live like this. What do you do? My greatest fear was that they would basically disappear."
Larry Denmon said his grandson's birthday was Sunday and he turned five years old. They plan to have a birthday party when he returns home.
"We are just going to hug him, kiss him and hold him," Larry Denman said.
Authorities issued an endangered person advisory after Devon Denman was taken from his father at gunpoint at his home in Lake Ozark, Missouri on Saturday.
Devon Denman's father was awarded custody last week. The family of Elizabeth Denman thinks it was the trigger.
Elizabeth C. Denman is a white woman who is 41 years old. She is 5' 1" and weighs 170 pounds. She has brown hair and eyes with a fair complexion. She was wearing a black dress and a silver lip ring.
Mark A. Cochran is a white man and is 40 years old. He is 5' 11" and weighs 280 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing a grey muscle shirt and has a goatee and tattoos on his arms.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=206963&catid=3 http://www.kspr.com/news/local/Missing-MO-Boy-Found-Safe-in-New-Mexico-98237049.html 
Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:02 am