An eleven-month-old boy from Odessa who was the subject of a statewide Amber Alert has been found safe, according to the Ector County Sheriff’s Office. Maverick Young was located in Arkansas along with twenty-year-old Tinley Young after officers pulled the pair over during a traffic stop.
The Texas Department of Public Safety issued the alert on Thursday after Maverick was reported missing. Investigators said the boy and Young were last seen around 10 a.m. on June 30 in the 7000 block of West Westmoor Road in Odessa.
Maverick is described as a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes, standing about three feet tall and weighing 26 pounds.
According to the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, the case grew out of a child custody dispute. Maverick was supposed to be dropped off at his father’s home in Arkansas, but never arrived.
That prompted deputies to open an investigation, and a kidnapping charge was later filed against Young in connection with the child’s disappearance.
A traffic stop leads authorities to a child and a suspect
Officers eventually caught up with the pair hundreds of miles away, in Arkansas, where a routine traffic stop turned up both Maverick and Young. Local station KOSA reported that the Amber Alert had been resolved after the child and the suspect were found during the stop. The Ector County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the identification but has not released further details about Young’s arrest, the exact location of the stop, or Maverick’s current condition.
Young, described as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes, stands about five feet nine inches tall and weighs around 130 pounds. She had been the focus of the search alongside Maverick from the moment the alert went out, with authorities urging anyone who spotted the pair to call 911 immediately rather than approach them directly.
News of Maverick’s safe recovery brings relief to a community that had been on alert for roughly two days. Amber Alerts like this one rely heavily on public tips and media coverage to spread descriptions quickly across state lines, and this case shows how that network can pay off even when a child is found far from where the disappearance began.
No word yet on what specific charges Young could face beyond the kidnapping count already filed, or on the custody arrangement that led to the dispute in the first place. The Ector County Sheriff’s Office said it will release more information as the investigation continues.
Authorities have not said whether Young will be extradited back to Texas or how soon that process might begin. For now, officials are simply confirming that Maverick is safe and that the search that captivated the region has come to an end.
