Video captures mother abandoning nonverbal son in Colerain neighborhood

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - Police released more videos showing the moments before and after a young autistic boy was abandoned by his mom in Colerain Township.

Martin Thomas Adkins, now 6 years old, was left by his mother on the cold, wet, and rainy night of Feb. 17.

Heather Adkins, 32, was driving back from Tennessee when she stopped on Copper Creek Lane in Colerain Township and “basically kicked [Martin] out the car,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters described.

The white SUV Adkins was said to be driving that night was seen on home security cameras around 8 p.m. The SUV stops at the end of the street and does not move for at least 16 seconds.

Without appearing to slow down, the SUV is seen driving back in the direction it came. Her son would spend the next hour wandering an unfamiliar area alone in the chilly rain.

Martin is seen minutes later walking down the road.

He then is seen on video walking through the wet grass, as rain continues coming down, and towards the front door of a home.

Martin never goes up the steps to the door but instead walks down the sidewalk and out of camera view at 8:09 p.m.

Nearly 40 minutes pass by until Martin is seen on video again.

A Ring doorbell camera shows him walking up to a different house this time.

The video shows him looking searchingly through the front door’s sidelights. He then walks off-camera to the corner of the porch for around 40 seconds before slowly making his way off the porch and back into the rainy and cool night.

The owners of the home say if Martin had rung the doorbell, they would have helped him.

They also said the creek alongside their home was running around 10′ high that night due to the rain and that Martin could easily have fallen into it.

For the next hour, young Martin walks around the area before he ends up on Sheed Road.

A passing driver saw Martin waving his arms along the side of the wet road around 9 p.m., he told an officer who responded to the 911 call.

Another civilian, who spotted Martin on the road, stopped, and allowed him to warm up and dry in their vehicle until police arrived.

Not knowing Martin was nonverbal at the time, one of the officers asks him questions trying to figure out how a young child came to be walking alone down the road on a cold wet night.

After talking with witnesses, an officer takes Martin to the ambulance to get checked on. Aside from being wet and cold, the EMT said Martin was ok.

Once Martin was in the care of the police, they shared his photo with FOX19 NOW and the media, asking for help to find his family.

Photos of the nonverbal child were seen by Shelbyville residents who recognized him.

Adkins was arrested in Georgetown, Kentucky, two days after Colerain Township police say she abandoned her son.

Following her arrest, Adkins claimed in a jailhouse interview she left her son with a friend and did not abandon him.

Adkins eventually admitted she did not leave her son with anyone.

She was extradited to Ohio from Kentucky on March 2.

If she is convicted on both kidnapping and child endangering children charges, Adkins could spend 11 years in prison, Prosecutor Deters said.

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