A state private investigator has been arrested in Brunswick County on child abduction charges, according to a press release from the Onslow County Sheriff s Office.
On January 11, 2021, deputies received a report that an infant had been taken from the child’s grandmother who lives in Holly Ridge. During the investigation, it was revealed that a couple hired an attorney to help gain custody of the child and the infant had been taken by a woman named Melanie Lynne Keene, an N.C. licensed private investigator hired by the attorney representing the couple.
In the release, deputies say Keene took custody of the child and transported the child to the couple, leaving the child in their care. The investigation also revealed Keene had taken the child under the pretext that an Ex-Parte Hearing for Temporary Emergency Custody would take place January 12.