A North Carolina couple who allegedly abandoned their infant at a hospital with “severe and life-altering injuries” earlier this year has been caught following a months-long manhunt, WCNC-TV reports.
On Thursday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced the arrests of 24-year-old Brandon Augustine and his fiancée, 23-year-old Mildred Chestnut.
“CMPD’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) made two arrests tonight in the alleged child abuse case from March 20,” the department said.
Police arrested Augustine around 8 p.m. after he ordered food at a McDonald’s in Mint Hill, a Charlotte suburb. Officers then found Chestnut in a tent in nearby woods and detained her.
“They had been on the run in Georgia, through South Carolina, and made it back to this area,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Lt. Jim Ivie told WCNC-TV.
The couple in March had left their 4-month-old son at Atrium Hospital in Charlotte, claiming that the child was injured from a minor vehicle crash. However, hospital employees determined that the baby’s injuries were inconsistent with a minor vehicle crash and in fact, were much more significant.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, arrest warrants were issued for the couple on March 21. That day, authorities found a vehicle belonging to the pair at a mobile home park in Austell, Georgia, about 260 miles from Charlotte. The vehicle appeared to have been abandoned and hidden intentionally.
“Detectives believe that the couple has been receiving assistance including money, shelter, and rides,” the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said at the time.
Augustine and Chestnut have both been charged with felony child abuse and inflicting serious injury. Chestnut reportedly posted $1,000 in an unsecured bond and was released from jail. Augustine is still in jail after his bond was raised to $50,000 from $15,000, according to WJZY-TV.
Ivie said the bond amounts should have been higher.
“We as an agency, and I personally am very disappointed in the bond amounts,” Ivie told WCNC-TV. ”
“I think that despite not only considering the extensive resources that law enforcement expended to find these two who are running, but also that you have a 4-month-old child who didn’t even have a chance at life who has been injured so that their life will never be the same, and they’re giving such a low amount so that they can get right out of jail.”
The couple’s son is in foster care and is expected to make a full recovery, WSB-TV reports.
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[Feature Photo: Mildred Chestnut and Brandon Augustine/Charlotte Police]
