On Tuesday, a jury convicted two women of kidnapping after police discovered that they hid a boy for 8 years. The women, Krystle Tanner and her mother, Gloria Walker, were able hide the boy since he was just 8 months old. They were able to pull of this horrible crime because they kept changing homes in the Central and East Texas area and they also changed the boy's name to Jaquan, Newsday reported on Feb. 19.
After deliberating for only two hours, jurors found the two women guilty of the 2004 kidnapping of Miguel Morin, who is now 8. In addition to the kidnapping charges, Walker, 51, was also found guilty of injury to a child. However, Tanner was handed a less serious charge of reckless injury to a child.
The jury didn't believe the defense's claim that the boy was sold to Tanner by his biological mother.
The women will learn their sentences after the jury hears more evidence in the trial's punishment phase. Walker could receive life in prison, while Tanner faces up to 20 years.
At the trial last week, prosecutors revealed to the jury that Tanner was the boy's former babysitter and she was the one that took the boy from his apartment complex in Houston, Texas.
The two women that hid the boy for 8 years were investigated in 2011 after Tanner's infant son tested positive for marijuana. This investigation led to the discovery of the boy, and the two were arrested back in March of last year.
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