A 12-year-old boy from Texas returned home from school on a recent Friday, only to discover that his apartment was empty and his family had vanished.

As reported by KWKT, the Copperas Cove police were alerted to the situation when the boy sought refuge at a neighbor’s house. He had found his mother, Erica Renee Sanders, and her boyfriend, Keven Dwayne Adams, missing.

The boy informed the officers that Sanders and Adams had discussed moving at some point, while the neighbor mentioned to police that the couple often expelled the boy from their home.

When officers reached out to the couple by phone, they claimed that the boy’s uncle was meant to pick him up. However, upon contacting the uncle, police learned that he was unaware of any such arrangement.

During the conversation with Adams, police noted that he expressed extensive grievances about his girlfriend’s young son.

Police contacted child protective services, who in turn again contacted the couple, but they refused to say where they were. Police finally located them nearly six hours later and arrested them on charges of abandoning or endangering a child without intent to return.