Missing child recovered, mother charged after alleged abduction

Jim Walsh, Cherry Hill Courier-Post
·1 min read

MOUNT LAUREL - A girl taken from a fitness center here Monday was safely recovered Friday afternoon. and her non-custodial mother faces criminal charges, police said.

Six-year-old Grace Craytor of Pennsauken was found about 650 miles from home in South Carolina, according to Mount Laurel police.

Her mother, Kristina Maletteri, was arrested without incident, according to a police account.

Maletteri was charged with kidnapping and interference with custody.

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The search for the child began Monday night, after Maletteri allegedly took her daughter from Lifetime Fitness in Mount Laurel around 7:30 p.m.

Grace Craytor
Grace Craytor

Grace's father, who has a full custody order for the girl, had invited Maletteri to swim with the child during a supervised visit at the facility at Church and Fellowship roads, said a police account.

"At some point, Ms. Maletteri is said to have taken her daughter and left the area without consent," police said in announcing the girl's disappearance on Wednesday morning.

Mount Laurel detectives "developed investigative leads" that helped them locate the mother and daughter, a police account said Friday.

Police said Maletteri and Grace were in Anderson County, which is in the northwestern part of South Carolina and borders Georgia.

Members of the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Carolina Regional Fugitive Task Force recovered the girl and took Maletteri into custody.

Additional details were not immediately available.

The charges against Maletteri are allegations. She has not been convicted in the case.

Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Grace Craytor, 6, and her mother were located Friday in South Carolina