Child Safely Recovered, Non-Custodial Father Arrested After Abduction Near Bartlesville

A four-year-old Bartlesville boy is safe thanks to the quick teamwork of several Green Country law enforcement agencies Monday morning.

Police say the boy's father doesn't have custody but took the boy from his mother’s house in Bartlesville. OHP troopers had him by the time he made it to Catoosa. Troopers say the reason people didn’t get an Amber Alert on their phones is because it happened so fast. From the time they were alerted to when they spotted Justin Shearhart's car, it was only 30 minutes, and he was in custody.

News On 6 was there as troopers arrested Shearhart along I-44 near Catoosa. They said he had his four-year-old son in the car with him.

Bartlesville Police say the little boy's mom called 911 Monday morning, saying Shearhart had taken her son and was driving a white Chevy Malibu. The information was immediately shared with law enforcement in the area.

“There was a ping going on, so we were being alerted every few minutes of where the vehicle was according to the ping on the cellphone, so that worked out well. Then, that's just good old-fashioned police work. Troopers being in the area, looking for the vehicle that matched the tag,” said Lieutenant Mark Southall of OHP. 

Troopers say Shearhart's phone showed he was in the Claremore area, so several troopers headed that way, and one of them spotted Shearhart's car. Troopers were told he might have a gun in the car.

“So, our tactics have to change a little bit on how we take care of this. Number one, we've got to make sure we have a lot of manpower there if we can, so we made sure to bring in extra troopers so we had all of our angles covered, made sure we had a good wide roadway. Our troopers did all of that,” Southall said.

Lieutenant Southall says technology helps them resolve these types of situations a lot more quickly and safely.

"When something like this happens, it is really just one agency that comes together to make sure that the innocent are protected, and that's a great feeling to be a part of,” said Southall.

The child wasn't hurt and is now back with his mother. Shearhart is now in the Washington County jail for kidnapping and stalking.

This is a developing story. Bookmark the page for updates.