Officials: Abducted newborn safer in state custody

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A newborn boy abducted by a woman posing as an immigration agent was again taken from his mother after a brief reunion, this time by state officials who said the baby and his three siblings would be safest with foster parents.

Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, said the children were taken from their mother, Maria Gurrolla, "purely for safety reasons," though he would not detail why they were in danger.

Johnson said officials made arrangements for Gurrolla to see her baby Saturday afternoon and hold him, four days after he was abducted. She brought her three other children — ages 3, 9 and 11 — to the reunion and all of the children were then taken into custody. Johnson, who said he could not discuss details of the situation for privacy reasons, said a judge would review the case next week to determine when the children can go home.

Joel Siskovic, an FBI special agent in the Memphis division, said there was no indication of an ongoing threat to the family. He could not say why the children were put into state custody.

Gurrolla, 30, was stabbed in her home Tuesday during the kidnapping, just four days after giving birth to Yair Anthony Carillo.

Nashville police said the baby was found in good health Friday night at a home in Ardmore, Ala., about 80 miles south of Nashville near the Tennessee line.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said officials arrested Tammy Renee Silas, 39, at the home in Ardmore. Federal authorities formally charged her Saturday with kidnapping.

Silas' live-in boyfriend, Martin Rodriguez, said he didn't think she was capable of the crime.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said Silas told him she was adopting a baby from a cousin who had to go to jail, and was going to El Paso, Texas, to get the child. He said Silas had a newborn with her when he picked her up from the Huntsville airport Tuesday.

"She was acting normal around the baby and I didn't really see any difference, but I think she was happy," Rodriguez said from their one-story home, where a box of baby clothes for a boy overflowed in the dining room. "What woman isn't happy to carry a baby?"

Rodriguez said he met Silas, a contractor, when they both lived in Nashville. He said Silas is bilingual and was born in Tarrant County, Texas, where she had family. "The last thing that she said to me was, 'I am so sorry and I love you,'" Rodriguez said.