Stolen Child Found Living Two Miles Away

Dec. 10, 2002 -- A California boy, missing and believed dead since he was snatched as a 4-week-old infant, has turned up six years later, just two miles from the home he was snatched from.

Vallejo police found the boy, Le-Zhan Williams, as the result of an anonymous tip.

His family said that they never lost faith that the child was still alive.

"We knew within our hearts that that baby was alive somewhere," Jessica Knox, the boy's godmother, said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "It was like walking in a nightmare six years ago, and then to get the word that the baby is alive and found — it just confirmed what our feelings were. We kept hope alive."

Police say a woman named Latasha Brown, 22, was raising Le-Zhan, who is now 6. The boy is in good health and had been attending a school in Vallejo.

Police say they have determined that Brown was not pregnant at the time of Le-Zhan's birth. Brown has been charged with murdering Le-Zhan's mother and kidnapping the baby boy.

The boy has been missing since May 17, 1996, when he was only 25 days old. His mother, Daphne Boyden, 17, was killed in the home where she lived with her grandmother, Riva Lee Boyden. The teenager's body was set on fire, and neighbors told police they witnessed two girls carrying a small bundle as they left the house.

Boyden had been dating Le-Zhan's father, Lathan Williams, a local rap star at the time. Police believe Brown may also have had a relationship with Williams, and that jealousy prompted her to kill his girlfriend and kidnap their child.

Le-Zhan is now in protective custody, but his relatives are looking forward to the day he will come home to a family he never knew he had.

"We're all going to decide what's best for Le-Zhan," said Knox. "We're going to take things piece by piece. We're going to be conscious of how we integrate him into this new reality."