A missing 6-year-old boy from Maple Heights, Ohio, has been safely recovered in Houston, Texas, following a swift multi-state law enforcement operation. Federal marshals arrested 37-year-old D’Juan Younger on Thursday, just days after he allegedly took the child from a relative’s home without permission.

Investigation and Arrest

Younger is currently being held in Texas awaiting extradition back to Ohio to face charges of interference with custody. The situation began last weekend when the boy’s mother left him in the care of family members in Maple Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. When she arrived to pick up her son on Monday, June 15, 2026, the child was gone.

According to police reports, Younger had taken the boy from the residence without permission and left for Texas. Both the mother and local police tried to contact Younger, pleading with him to bring the boy back, but he refused. With Younger refusing to cooperate, the Maple Heights Police Department secured a warrant for his arrest.

Recognizing that the suspect had left the state, the department’s detective bureau reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service SPEAR Unit (Specialized Personnel for Enforcement, Apprehension and Recovery) on Tuesday, June 16. Once federal investigators stepped in, the case moved rapidly. Marshals in Northern Ohio quickly gathered intelligence on Younger’s potential whereabouts and passed those leads to their counterparts in the Southern District of Texas.

It took investigators in Houston less than 24 hours from receiving the information to locate Younger and find the missing boy. The child was recovered safely, and Younger was taken into custody without any further incidents.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.