An Austin woman has been charged with evading arrest after she abducted her 4-year-old son, who has since been found, Travis County sheriff’s officials said.
The boy, Marsdan Ellis Harp, was found safe Friday, and officials returned him to his father, sheriff’s officials said. The mother, 38-year-old Celina Harp, had not yet been arrested as of Friday evening.
The Travis County sheriff’s office had issued a regional AMBER alert for Marsdan late Thursday.
Celina Harp was allowed to have supervised visitation of her son on Christmas Day, her arrest affidavit says. While the boy was with her, she sent the boy’s father an email which said she wouldn’t return the boy to him until she was able to get another court date to present evidence in the child custody case, the court document says.
The boy’s father called police. Then, the father’s former attorney tracked down Harp at Ramsey Park and Pool in Rosedale, the affidavit says. Harp told her two children to get into her car, and she drove away, the document says.
An Austin police officer found Harp driving on West 38th Street, the affidavit says. The officer activated the police car’s emergency lights and sirens, but Harp did not stop, the affidavit says.
The chase continued onto MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), and the officer “could see a child’s arm waving from the back seat of the car,” the court document says.
Harp continued to Southwest Parkway and Texas 71, where she “narrowly missed being struck by another vehicle,” the affidavit says. Police supervisors eventually asked the officer to end the chase for safety reasons.
Harp was previously charged with interference of child custody in 2016, when police said she fled with Marsdan to Mexico and refused to return him to his father, court records say. The charge was dismissed in 2018 pending further investigation, records show.
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