Carlos Villegas 3yo Was Missing 24 Hours,Someone Dropped Him At Homeless Shelter

**Whisper** · June 30th, 2010, 09:21 PM

It could've been worse
Happy to see nice people still around
KANSAS CITY, Missouri - A toddler has been found after a 24 hour frantic search for him.

Olathe police found him after someone had dropped him off at a downtown Kansas City homeless shelter.

Carlos Angel Villegas III is just 3 years old but was caught in the middle of a twisted tale of events that's left two people questioned by police, a man dead and a child parentless.

Police say it all started Tuesday morning when a manager of an Olathe EconoLodge found a customer, 57-year-old Stephen Cook of California -- robbed and dead in a motel bathroom.

Police began to search for 22-year-old Maurice Stewart and his girlfriend Stephanie Leguna. Leguna is the toddler's mother.

She was jailed Wednesday for aiding a felon.

Police say her boyfriend is a person of interest in Stephen Cook's murder. He was also the last person seen with Leguna's 3-year-old child, Carlos.

Police found her boyfriend, Stewart, shortly after someone dropped off the child to a downtown homeless shelter to be with his grandmother.

Evie Craig of ReStart homeless shelter said, "At least the family members who did that, who couldn't locate the mother or the father was able to put the child with someone that he knew and I think that's always reassuring to a child at any age.
[...]

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/new...rantic-search-

**Valasca** · June 30th, 2010, 09:37 PM

... another story that leaves me speechless. no small thing, that.

**Whisper** · June 30th, 2010, 09:42 PM

Man found dead in Olathe hotel
JUNE 29 2010
OLATHE, Kansas - Olathe police are investigating the second homicide in that city in less than a week.

Emergency responders were sent on a medical emergency call to the Econolodge at 209 E. Flaming Road just before 8 a.m. Tuesday. They arrived to find a 57-year-old man dead in one of the hotel’s rooms.

The man was not from the local area.

Police are investigating the man’s death as a homicide.

Olathe police are seeking the public's help in locating a person of interest in this murder case. Police are looking for 22-year-old Maurice O. Stewart.

Stewart is described as 6 foot 1 and 195 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Police say he may be driving a blue 2003 Chevrolet Impala bearing a Kansas License plate 162-BVR.

[...]

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/new...n-olathe-hotel

Child was with man wanted for questioning in Olathe murder
JUNE 30 2010KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Authorities say they have located a three-year-old boy who had been missing and was feared to be with a man wanted for questioning in an Olathe homicide.
[...]
Villegas was reportedly with Maurice O. Stewart, 22, who is wanted for questioning in the Tuesday death of Stephen L. Cook at an Olathe hotel. Stewart was found in the metro area on Wednesday.

Police had also searched for Stephanie Laguna and for a vehicle Stewart was seen occupying. They found the car, and Laguna was booked into the Johnson County Jail. She is charged with aiding a person who committed a felony.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/new...-olathe-murder

**Tundratot** · July 1st, 2010, 12:48 AM

That's a new one! And, not as bad as I initially thought, since he was left with a grandparent. Here I was thinking some idiot found a kid and took him to a homeless shelter because they had no better ideas. But, the fact he may have witnessed a murder is pretty alarming. I hope he was not in a position to view that.