Missing child found safe after statewide alert issued

Authorities found a 7-year-old child to be safe less than a day after a statewide endangered-missing child alert — a public “be on the lookout” advisory — was issued by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety via traditional news outlets and social media.

The alert, which was dispatched on Wednesday, Jan. 26, involved the disappearance of Shane Shelby Jr., and a last reported sighting of the child off Mississippi Highway 33 in Franklin County’s Roxie community around 3 p.m.

The child, at the time, was believed to be wearing a red hoodie and black shorts, and was thought to have been allegedly accompanied by Shane Shelby Sr., a white male, who was driving a 2008 blue Chrysler Town and Country in an unknown direction.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation later posted on its social media platforms that Shelby Jr., had been located, was unharmed and in the custody of family members on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Investigators did not release any additional information in the matter other than to confirm the child was safe.

WLOX-TV in Biloxi reported on Thursday, Jan. 27 that the Shelby family was reportedly traveling from Natchez to Biloxi when an argument allegedly ensued with Shelby Sr., allegedly leaving the child’s mother on the side of the road in Franklin County.

The television station went on to report Shelby Sr., and the child were located after 11 p.m., Wednesday evening less than 100 miles away — at a hotel in Gonzales, La.

Shelby Sr., could potentially face a charge of domestic violence in connection with the incident.