8-year-old abducted by biological mother found safe, mother arrested

The 8-year-old foster child who was abducted early this week by his biological mother from a Carson elementary school has been found at a police station and the mother has been arrested, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities said the suspect’s boyfriend dropped the child off at a police station in Inglewood on Thursday morning. The mother, 29-year-old Dariia Kostenko, was arrested and booked on suspicion of kidnapping.

Authorities said the kidnapping happened around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday, when Dylan Kostenko’s foster mother arrived at Towne Avenue Elementary School to pick the boy up. The mother was told by school personnel that Dylan had been picked up by his biological mother, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The boy and his biological mother were last seen walking northbound from the school in a residential area. Authorities had been searching for the pair since Tuesday until he appeared in Inglewood.

The boy had been taken away from Kostenko in May 2017 and placed under the care of the Department of Children and Family Services. Under a court order, Kostenko has monitored visitations with Dylan but is not allowed to pick him up from school, authorities said.

It was unclear why Dylan had been taken away from Kostenko. She remains in jail pending $150,000 bail.

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Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia

UPDATES:

3:25 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the boy being found and the arrest of his mother.

This article was originally published at 6:15 a.m.