Tennessee woman charged in Buncombe parental kidnapping, child safely recovered

Buncombe County deputies used a BOLO alert to help track down and arrest a Tennessee woman accused of taking a child across state lines, ending with the child safely recovered and the suspect held in Greene County, Tennessee.

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called around 10:52 a.m. Thursday, May 7, to a parental-abduction report at a home on Old Mars Hill Highway. The child was described in local reports as a toddler, with one outlet identifying the child as 1 year old.

Authorities identified the suspect as Ambriel Grace Ruth Wilson, 25, of Afton, Tennessee. She was charged with abduction of a child and first-degree kidnapping, charges that turned a family custody dispute into a multi-jurisdiction criminal case.

After the initial call, deputies issued a BOLO, or Be on the Lookout, alert. That notice helped deputies with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee locate Wilson and take her into custody. The child was recovered safely.

Wilson remained in Greene County custody pending extradition, according to local reports. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said details about what led to the abduction were still unclear.

The case underscores how quickly a custody conflict can move beyond Buncombe County into neighboring states, forcing local deputies, sheriff’s offices and prosecutors to work together across jurisdictional lines. A call from a home on Old Mars Hill Highway became a cross-state search within hours, with the BOLO serving as the key tool that linked Buncombe authorities to law enforcement in Greene County.

For families in western North Carolina, the case is a reminder that parental-abduction reports are handled as urgent public-safety matters when a child is believed to have been taken without legal authority. In this case, the response led to an arrest in Tennessee and the child’s safe recovery, while the investigation into what prompted the removal continued.