Abducted Latvia Boy Found After 16 Years

Police have found a 16-year-old boy who was kidnapped as a baby and he soon could be reunited with his mother, authorities said Wednesday.

The discovery came when the woman who had raised him was arrested in a separate case and questions arose about his identity, police spokeswoman Inguna Dunda said.

The boy had no birth certificate or personal ID code — obligatory in Latvia — which prompted investigators to reopen the 1992 kidnapping case that was closed six years ago because of a lack of leads.

The boy's mother had gone shopping and left her 1½ month-old child in a baby carriage outside a store, Dunda said. When she came out, the child and carriage had disappeared.

A DNA test confirmed the teenager was the kidnapped baby.

The woman who raised the boy denied abducting him and told police that her husband, who died several years ago, had brought the boy home claiming he came from the Russian region of Dagestan, Dunda said.

Authorities placed the boy in a foster family and pending a custody hearing that will determine if he can live with his biological mother, who also lives in Daugavpils, Latvia's second-largest city located near the border with Belarus.

The Ministry for Children and Family Affairs said the court would weigh all factors — including the teenage boy's wishes — in deciding where he should live until he turns 18.

Dunda said the boy was his real mother's only child. He has been removed from school and is receiving psychological help, police said.