EXCLUSIVE: Mom of kidnapped 11-year-old found in Flagler County speaks out

For three days, no one knew where an 11-year-old St Johns County boy was.

Flagler County deputies finally found him during a New Year’s Eve traffic stop.

His mother, whom we are not identifying, said she knew something was wrong when he never came home and stopped answering his phone.

“I kept calling like a hundred times,” she said. “And then I said, it’s weird because he was waiting for me.”

After searching for him and calling parents and friends, she reported him missing.

Three days after he disappeared, deputies found him alive.

Investigators say the boy had been kidnapped and tortured by registered sex offender Darnell Hairston after he was reportedly lured into the woods by a friend.

“He lost consciousness, so he didn’t know what happened,” his mother said. “The next thing he saw, he was handcuffed, had tape on his mouth, and he was in the middle of nowhere in the forest.”

Seeing her son again was overwhelming.

“When they told me your son was kidnapped, I cried because he’s safe now,” she said. “When I saw him, I cried because I got emotional about what happened to him.”

His mother says the recovery has not been easy.

“After the kidnapping, for one month, every night he was crying,” she said. “He got some nightmares.”

The 11-year-old is now in therapy, and his mother says each day brings new challenges.

She said the threats her son heard from his alleged kidnapper still haunt him.

“That day, he was supposed to be killed because the kidnapper told him, ‘You’re not going to make it to 12 years old. Today, Dec. 31, is your last day,’” she said.

Hairston is being held on no bond at the jail. His next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

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