Video shows persons of interest in case of 3-year-old abandoned near burned car
Police released video on Thursday of persons in interest in a bizarre case that unfolded earlier this week when an Orlando toddler was found on a stranger's porch in western New York, less than a mile away from his family's charred vehicle.
The Buffalo Police Department released surveillance footage showing two unidentified people walking with a child who is believed to be 3-year-old Noelvin, who was found early Monday morning on the porch of a home in Buffalo, New York.
The boy's family said he may have been on a road trip with his parents -- Nicole Merced Plaud, 24, and Miguel Valentin-Colon, 31 -- and 29-year-old Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred, a family friend, but they have not been heard from since Sunday, according to police.
The woman who found the toddler said he told her that his family's car was on fire, investigators said, and police found a charred vehicle in a wooded area nearby Monday night with human remains inside.
It's too early to tell if the remains were those of the toddler's parents, but police said the two cases are certainly connected. It could take as many as four weeks for authorities to positively identify the bodies.
"The vehicle was completely incinerated. The contents inside the vehicle was nothing more than ashes," Buffalo Police Capt. Jeff Rinaldo told reporters Thursday. "We can now positively identify that vehicle as being the vehicle that the family rented and drove to Buffalo, New York, in."
Surveillance footage showed two people walking with a child near the area where the vehicle was burned. One of the people was seen with a T-shirt over their head and carrying two gasoline cans, according to police.
The video also shows the boy the two persons of interest running away from what appears to be a burning car.
The child's family is working to gain custody and return him to his home in Central Florida. He is currently in child protective services.
"We're heartbroken, we're worried, we're scared," Noelvin’s grandfather, Jorge Oquendo, told Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV on Wednesday. "We're all devastated. ... We're all devastated for a lot of reasons. We have no answers, we don't know what happened, we don't know if it happened."
The boy's grandmother is scheduled to appear in Buffalo for a second custody hearing in October, authorities said. Her previous request for custody was denied.
