Austell police searching for couple who abandoned baby at hospital, vanished in ‘bizarre’ case

Search and rescue crews in Austell are trying to find two parents wanted on felony child abuse charges.

Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell was the only station at the place where the couple was last seen on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Brandon Augustine and Mildred Chestnut are accused of abusing their 4-month-old baby and then leaving him at a hospital in North Carolina before vanishing in Georgia.

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Officials found their car in Cobb County more than a month ago. the car was ditched in the woods behind a trailer park off Veteran’s Memorial Highway in Austell.

North Carolina investigators said there is a possibility the couple isn’t even alive.

“The female possibly had ties in Georgia, but nowhere near Austell, Georgia,” Austell Police Chief Orrin Scott Hamilton said. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. This is one of the more bizarre cases that I have seen.”

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Hamilton pulled the search together with help from other agencies after speaking with detectives in North Carolina.

“All credit card activity, bank activities have ended, so this was their last result, trying to find them,” Hamilton said.

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Emergency Management Director of Cobb County Cassie Mazloon said volunteers have searched for miles, looking for any kind of clothing.

“Any kind of clue of life or possibly a body, bodies,” Mazloon said.

The search didn’t turn up anything on Thursday. Investigators in North Carolina will be in Austell in three weeks with their search team.