2 MSHP Troopers honored for a traffic stop that solved abduction case in Pulaski County

ST ROBERT, Mo. (KY3) - A 13-year-old child abduction case out of Texas is solved. It all ended with a traffic stop on I-44 in Pulaski County.

“She knew she was caught at that point,” said Sgt. Greg Weddle, when discussing Susan O’Connor’s reaction to being pulled over back in October. ”When I got her information, she said there was probably a warrant for her arrest.”

O’Connor didn’t have an ID on her. That’s when Sgt. Weddle called Corporal Sean Blackstone. He came to a stop with a fingerprint scanner.

”The fingerprint scanner makes it easier when somebody does not have proper identification or is potentially leading toward giving false information,” said Crpl Blackstone.

The fingerprint scanner showed what O’Connor had admitted.

”Along with the warrant information. There was also a missing persons entry issued for her and a juvenile who she had allegedly abducted, which is what the warrant was for,” said Sgt. Weddle.

Troopers found she was wanted for a 2009 Texas parental abduction case involving her then 3-year-old son. She didn’t have custody and had disappeared with her son. Troopers arrested O’Connor, but her son wasn’t with her.

”He actually made comments that he was at a Boy Scout camp. So after everything was said to the woman was confirmed with Texas, we inquired further, and she let us know the location, and the child was actually located safe that night,” said Sgt. Weddle.

Troopers say many of these simple traffic stops can lead to breaks in cases.

”They start out as a simple traffic violation. Then upon further investigation, you know, we get out-of-state warrants, drugs, weapons, all kinds of other crimes are solved through simple traffic stops, they just bid leads into it,” said Sgt. Weddle.

The two are being honored for their work this month by the state’s Department of Public Safety, but they say that’s not why they do the job.

”It was important to give back to the community into the state. The only way to do that that I could see would be to join an organization where you can impact the lives of not only people within an individual community that you live but also the people who have traveled through the State of Missouri,” said Cpl. Blackstone.

”This job, we go to work every day with the opportunity to help someone and make a positive impact on their lives,” said Sgt. Weddle.

O’Connor is back in Texas, facing several charges, including interference with child custody. The sheriff there didn’t return KY3′s request for an update on the case.

Her son, now 17, has been reunited with his father in Texas.

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