Grandfather Describes Custody Issues in Video Months Before Abduction

The man charged with kidnapping his five-year-old grandson from a West Windsor apartment complex posted a YouTube video six months ago asking for help to keep his grandson from child services.  

Morris Lundy, 50, was found with his grandson, David Lundy, in a South Carolina McDonalds on Tuesday and was arrested without incident, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. The abduction led to an amber alert and brought searchers in from agencies including the New Jersey State Police, FBI, Mercer County Sheriff's Office, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and local police and emergency workers.

The YouTube video outlines a struggle the grandfather said he was facing with the Division of Youth and Family Services after they moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey. Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is aware of the video and confirmed Morris Lundy is the individual speaking in it.

In the video, Lundy said child services was going to take his grandson from him after he said DYFS made him take a psychological evaluation. 

A DYFS spokeswoman would not comment on the case, citing privacy regulations.

“They said that I was narcissistic and grandiose, and incapable of empathy, and that was reason for them to remove David from my home. They removed David from my home in January of 2009,” Lundy said in the video, referring to DYFS. “I’ve been there for him since he was a baby. I’ve taken care of him. I’ve become his dad.”

According to Lundy, David Lundy’s mother abandoned him, but he said the courts and child welfare services claimed he took David Lundy from his mother.

“I’m in the process of appeals but it doesn’t look good for me,” he said in the December 2011 video. “They have no intentions on giving him back to his mother, they’ve already made that clear. He’s with my sister now and I just barely get to see him.” 

“Please help me, help my little man. Help me get him back so he can be with his parent,” Lundy pleaded in the video.

The grandfather took David Lundy from a West Windsor apartment on June 15, and law enforcement received information Tuesday that the two were in Florence, S.C. Police found them at a McDonalds, and David Lundy was playing on the playground, Onofri said. 

No one else was with them, and the prosecutor’s office believes the two took a bus to South Carolina. Onofri said Morris Lundy was “very cooperative” and didn’t try to run from authorities when found.

The kidnapping touched off a multi-state search spanning New Jersey, New York and South Carolina. A search for the boy started on Saturday morning around the West Windsor apartment complex, and in Brooklyn. Onofri said Morris Lundy had friends and family members in Brooklyn, and he was originally from there. 

Lundy also has family and friends in the vicinity of Florence, S.C., Onofri said. The prosecutor’s office is still looking into the possibility of anyone else helping Morris Lundy avoid police.

Onofri said Morris Lundy will waive extradition at a court hearing Wednesday morning and will be returned to New Jersey in about 10 days. He is being held in the Florence County Jail on charges of kidnapping, interference with child custody and endangering the welfare of a child.

“We’re all very relieved and happy that David was found, and that he was found to be safe. Prosecutor Bocchini thanks all of the law enforcement and emergency services agencies that were involved in this in order to bring the matter to a successful resolution,” Onofri said.