PORTLAND, Ore. — Court documents filed Monday reveal more information about a woman accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old boy in Southeast Portland and making camp with him overnight. LeeAnne N. Osborne, 31, made her first appearance in court Monday afternoon.
According to a probable cause statement filed by a Portland Police Bureau detective, the boy's mother called 911 around 8 p.m. on May 2, telling dispatch that she'd fallen asleep and couldn't find her son. She'd last seen him hours earlier, around 2 p.m., at their apartment complex near Southeast 151st Avenue and Southeast Stark Street.
The mother told detectives that she didn't know who had her son, but no one had permission to take him anywhere.
Security cameras at the apartment building showed that the boy had left in the company of a woman pulling a red wagon. They next appeared at a nearby 7-Eleven and Chevron gas station.
Upon seeing an image of the woman, the boy's mother said that she didn't know her and she did not have permission to take the child anywhere, the affidavit says.
Police began a search of the area that lasted through the night, notifying the media and the public about the missing boy.
Shortly after 6:30 a.m. the next morning, Cheyenne Stallsworth was heading into work early when she saw a woman and boy near Southeast 151st and Main Street who matched the description from police. Officers were able to use that information to find the two of them, taking Osborne into custody and taking the boy to Randall Children's hospital for evaluation.
According to the PPB detective, Osborne told them that she'd seen the boy at his apartment building before and had spoken with him and "given him candy" in the past. She said that when she saw him on Thursday, the boy said he wanted to go to a nearby store for some food and drinks, according to the affidavit.
Osborne claimed that she'd told the boy to check with his mother if it was OK to leave, and "she believed he did check with his mother" though she did not see or hear any interaction. They left for 7-Eleven, where Osborne used food stamps to buy the boy drinks and snacks, she said.
After that, Osborne allegedly told police, the boy asked her to buy him "a container of slime," so they headed to another store. Osborne said that she didn't end up buying the boy any slime, and after transferring buses she said she couldn't recall where the boy's apartment building was.
At that point it was getting dark and cold, Osborne explained to the detective, so she took the boy to a nearby school where she built a fire. When the sun rose the next morning, someone she took to be a school employee in a work truck told her to leave the property.
Osborne was again walking down the street with the boy when police found her and took her into custody. She didn't attempt to deny that she was the person seen on surveillance stills from earlier, the affidavit says.
"She said her phone was dead so she couldn't call 911 and she said people weren't helpful to her when she was asking for help to find the child's apartment," the detective wrote.
Osborne was arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree kidnapping and second-degree custodial interference. She entered an initial plea of not guilty, and the judge ordered that she be held without bail until a detention hearing.
She's set to appear in court again for an indictment on Tuesday, May 14.
Osborne has been charged with crimes in Oregon on a number of different occasions, almost entirely in 2020 and 2023. Court records indicate she'd been living in Deschutes County until sometime last year, and spent some time in Tillamook County prior to that.
Most charges were for either drug possession or theft. Court records show that she was charged in December 2023 for allegedly stealing from a Washington County Kohl's, as well as taking someone's iPhone. When Osborne did not appear for her arraignment, the judge issued a warrant for her arrest.
A "return of service" document suggests that she was arrested April 16 and handed a citation ordering her to appear in court on May 16.
