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The Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas alerted the Frederick County Sheriff in Maryland last week to advise that Frederick resident Amanda Lynn Shaw, 32, was believed to be in the area after violating a court-issued decree.
In December 2021, Shaw received custody of her two children - ages 8 and 9 - under a divorce decree, according to the sheriff’s office. However, later that month, Shaw failed to return custody to her former spouse, a violation of the agreement.
Officials said that Shaw’s ex was unable to regain custody of his children because she “repeatedly avoided attempts to resolve the custody exchange and service of court paperwork.”
In late February, a spokesperson from the sheriff's office said that Shaw texted her former spouse saying that she was refusing to comply with the custody exchange and he “would never see the children again.”
Months later in April, a Texas court awarded custody to Shaw's former spouse and denied Shaw custody of and access to the children.
As a result, officials said that a Harris County judge issued a felony arrest warrant for Shaw for interfering with child custody and entered the two children into the national missing person database as “critically missing persons.”
During the investigation, police investigators in Texas said they were able to develop information that Shaw was in or near the Frederick area, at which point the sheriff’s office took over the investigation.
Detectives from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office were able to develop multiple leads that identified surveillance footage of Shaw as well as the vehicle she was using, and later, her address, according to authorities.
Shaw was later spotted with her children entering a home on Ironside Drive in Frederick before they traveled to a restaurant in the 5000 block of Buckeystown Pike, where she was apprehended without incident.
She was taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, according to the sheriff’s office, where she is being held until she can be extricated back to Harris County in Texas.
Deputies said that the children were both safely recovered and have been reunited with their father, who flew into the area from Texas to bring them home.
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