DETROIT (WXYZ) — "He's not no pedophile. He's a good guy," said the cousin of Davell Stevenson, the man Detroit police named as the suspect in the reported kidnapping of five-year-old Marcus Pruitt.
Friday afternoon, Detroit police released Stevenson's name and photo in hopes that the public would help them locate him.
Stevenson's cousin, Marvin, who did not want to show his face or use his last name, told 7 Action News that his cousin told him he did not kidnap little Marcus. Stevenson later sent Marvin a text in which he said he was about "to go down to the police station" and try to straighten it out.
A police source told 7 Action News that Stevenson's moped stopped running in front of the boy's home on St. Marys street Thursday and that's when he began talking to Marcus, who liked his moped. The source went on to say that when a friend arrived to pick Stevenson up, he allegedly told Marcus to get in the truck and they drove to the house on Stahelin where police would find Marcus the next day.
The source added that when friends at the house on Stahelin asked who Marcus belonged to, Stevenson reportedly laughed.
Then shortly after seeing the kidnapping case on the news at noon Friday, someone at the house on Stahelin called police to let them know where Marcus could be found.
When officers arrived, Marcus was sitting on the porch of the house.
Within a few hours of finding Marcus, police released Stevenson's name and photo in hopes of locating him.
Late Monday afternoon, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced they denied the warrant request on Stevenson.
To deny a warrant could mean anything from the person is innocent or prosecutors don't believe there is enough evidence to charge the person.
