Brandon Lee Dubose II (left), Brandon Lee Dubose (Image: Clarendon County Sheriff's Dept.)
Brandon Lee Dubose II (Image: Clarendon County Sheriff's Dept.)
Brandon Lee Dubose II
Brandon Lee Dubose II (Image: Clarendon County Sheriff's Dept.)
Clarendon County, SC (WLTX) - Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett says his officers continue to search Tuesday morning for a little boy whose disappearance prompted an Amber Alert.
Garrett says his team is looking for 2-year-old Brandon Lee Dubose II. They believe the boys' father, 32-year-old Brandon Lee Dubose, abducted him.
Garrett says the boy was taken from an Exxon gas station on Paxville Hwy 261 and I-95 around 1:30 pm Monday. According to Garrett, Dubose followed the mother and the boy to the store, then took the child.
An 11-year-old stepdaughter of the man who was also there at the scene ran after Dubose to stop him, but the suspect knocked her down.
Garrett says the abduction rose out of an ongoing domestic dispute between the mother and Dubose.
According to the sheriff, Dubose later sent a text message to the mother saying he would kill the child.
A deputy pulled over Dubose, but when the officer approached the vehicle, Garrett says the man said he wasn't going to jail, and pulled away. Officers say they pursued him until he reached a cornfield, where Dubose then jumped out of the vehicle with the child.
The man eventually went into a swamp near Sammy Swamp Road and Highway 261.
Based on the tracks leading into the woods, deputies think the man is no longer carrying the child, leaving the boy's whereabouts as a mystery.
The man remains in what's described as a dense area of foliage, and multiple law enforcement agencies are searching a five square mile area. Garrett believes Dubose may be armed.
Despite the potential threat of the suspect, Garrett says the main focus of his officers is to find the child. He says they have a perimeter around the swamp to make sure the dad doesn't get away.
"If he pops his head up, we're going to see him," Garrett said.
Sumter County deputies say Dubose was arrested on April 17 on a charge of criminal domestic violence of an aggravated nature, when he was accused of assaulting the mother of the child. He'd bonded out a week and a half ago.
Garrett says the mother moved to Clarendon County from Sumter County to get away from Dubose, and that the suspect was not to have contact with her. Investigators say Dubose has a long criminal history that includes assault and weapons charges.
The sheriff says his officers are taking shifts going in and out to search for the child.
"We're not going to stop until we find him," Garrett said.
The boy has red hair, blue eyes and weighs 30 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue shorts and black Nike sandals.
Dubose is 5'11, 185 pounds and was last seen wearing a black Gamecock t-shirt with a large gamecock on the front, blue jeans and black Nike sneakers.
If you have any information or see either the suspect or the child you are asked to call 911 immediately.