Father faces extradition in Amber Alert kidnapping, charges pending in mother’s murder
By WABC Staff
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RAHWAY, New Jersey (WABC) — A father faces extradition from Tennessee to New Jersey Monday to face charges connected to the alleged abduction of his 2-year-old son.
Investigators also expect Tyler Rios face charges in the death of the young boy’s mother, 24-year-old Yasemin Uyar, whose body was found in a wooded area in Monterey, just east of Nashville.
The Union County prosecutor’s office and Rahway police said the 27-year-old Rios, of Highland Park, is charged with first-degree kidnapping, but additional criminal charges are pending.
Police believe Uyar and her son Sebastian were taken against their will by the boy’s father on Thursday, sparking an Amber Alert.
The alert was canceled after Sebastian was found safe in Tennessee Friday night, but Uyar’s body was not found until Saturday.
No information on a possible cause of death was immediately provided, and New Jersey authorities did not provide additional information about charges pending in her death.
The family says Rios has a violent past, and he pleaded guilty to domestic violence in 2017.
Uyar was moving into a new home days before she disappeared.
The Amber Alert was issued Friday after Sebastian wasn’t taken to his day care and Uyar did not arrive for scheduled work shifts, prosecutors said.
Neighbors and friends left flowers on the front steps of Uyar’s Rahway home.
“It’s horrible as a mom, as a mother, as a woman — you try to protect your family,” friend Patty Kiokenny said.
Her family says she had a restraining order against Rios.
“When you’ve had a child, and I call her a child because she’s my child, who’s dealt with domestic violence for a long period of time, in a way, in your mind you prepare for things,” grandmother Karen Uyar said. “I never prepared, I don’t think, fully for this moment. But I think there’s a part of you, as the anger and the violence progresses in the relationship, where you know that there’s a day where you may face this possibility.”
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