Boy, 12, Comes Home from School to Empty Apartment After Parents Moved Without Telling Him

Police in Copperas Cove responded to the unusual call on Friday and spoke with the 12-year-old child, who had gone to a neighbor's house. The boy had shown the neighbor the empty apartment, and told police that the couple had said they would all be moving at some point, but he had no idea it would be that day -- while he was at school.

Police were ultimately able to track down his mother, Erica Renee Sanders, and her boyfriend, Keven Dwayne Adams, but it wasn't easy, according to the arrest affidavit reviewed by Fox affiliate KWKT.

While the couple was reachable by phone, they would not give their new address. Even efforts by Child Protective Services to get a new address were unfruitful, as the couple reportedly refused to provide one, per the affidavit.

Sanders told police that they'd made arrangement with the boy's uncle to pick him up from the empty apartment, but they would not give the uncle's contact information. Police were ultimately able to obtain it themselves, but when contacted, the uncle had no idea what they were talking about.

According to the affidavit, when they spoke with Adams, he "complained at length" about the boy. The neighbor at the apartment said that the couple had kicked the boy out of the house on multiple occasions in the past.

After five-and-a-half hours of effort to reconnect the boy with his mother and her boyfriend, both Sanders and Adams were ultimately tracked down, arrested, and charged with abandoning or endangering a child without intent to return.