Fredericksburg police searching for 4 missing children

Police in Fredericksburg, Virginia are asking for the public’s help finding four children, last seen in the custody of their maternal grandmother on April 6.

The four children are:

7-year-old Leah Winginton
5-year-old Prince Randall
2-year-old Meccah Randall
7-month-old Ocean Randall

All four children have black hair and brown eyes.

Fredericksburg Police Department

The four children were taken out of Virginia by their maternal grandmother, who is ignoring attempts by Fredericksburg Police to contact her and remove the children after a Child Protective Services report.

All four children were put in the custody of their maternal grandmother, Shirley Williamson, age 52, on April 6, after Fredericksburg police responded to a welfare check on the children that day.

While checking on the children, police became aware that their mother, 28-year-old Kierstan Randall, had an open arrest warrant in Stafford County. The nature of the warrant was not shared in the news release about the missing children.

Randall turned her children over to an adult at the scene of her arrest on April 6, and police confirmed that her mother, Williamson, was then given custody of the children.

A third party shared information with police that led them to file a report with Child Protective Services (CPS). That led to a removal order for the children three days later on April 9.

Detectives and social workers tried to get Williamson, a resident of Martinsburg, West Virginia, to cooperate with them, but they have so far been unsuccessful.

Police do not currently know where any of the four children are, and they are considered missing due to Williamson’s lack of cooperation.

Shirley Williamson, 52, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, is not cooperating with police and Child Protective Services and has a warrant for her arrest, Fredericksburg Police say.

Police now have a warrant for Williamson’s arrest, for four counts of violation of a court custody order and four counts of causing acts rendering a child delinquent.

They believe Williamson and her four grandchildren are in the Martinsburg, West Virginia area. They ask that anyone with information contact the Fredericksburg Police Department at 540-373-3122, or text “FPDtip” and a tip to 847-411 to remain anonymous.

Because the children were not unwillingly abducted from their home without a parents or guardian’s permission, and not in imminent danger of bodily harm or death, this case does not meet the requirements for an Amber Alert.

The case also does not meet the requirements for a state Codi Alert, because the children did not disappear under mysterious circumstances.

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