HOMESTEAD, Fla. – This has been a nightmare of a two months for Jojo Morales’ mother, but on Wednesday Yanet Leal Concepcion said she can barely even remember all of that.
She’s just happy her boy is home.
The two were reunited on Tuesday night at Miami International Airport, and the first thing they did when they got home was hold a dance party to his favorite song.
“For my own sanity I’m trying not to think, I’m just appreciating the moment right now. I really am,” Concepcion said.
For more than 60 days Concepcion was living every parent’s nightmare, waiting for news about her son’s whereabouts after he was kidnapped by his father and grandmother in late August.
The ordeal started when Concepcion went to pick Jojo up as part of a custody exchange.
But, when she got there, the 6-year-old, along his father Jorge Morales, and his grandmother, Lilliam Peña Morales, were all gone.
For weeks, police followed every lead they could, eventually tracking them to Littleton, Maine, but that’s where the trail went cold.
Until Sunday, when a person in Moncton, New Brunswick spotted Jojo inside of a Canadian Walmart and called authorities.
“It was very emotional,” said Concepcion. “I called her our angel and she just, I get goosebumps, she was like, ‘I’m a mom, I’m a grandmother, and I just had to do what was best.’”
Morales and his mother were both taken into custody by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and early Tuesday morning, Jojo, who has autism, began his trip back home.
“Autism can be such a blessing sometimes that he’s living in his own world,” Concepcion said. “He thinks he was trying to find me because he went on vacation and it was a long vacation and he’s just happy to be over with the vacation.”
Jojo’s father and grandmother will soon be brought back to South Florida to face felony charges.
Meanwhile, Concepcion says she and Jojo are going to be recreating Halloween and eating a lot of pizza, his favorite food.