Police ID suspect in case of missing GA kids

Published 11:24 am Friday, February 24, 2012

Police say they likely won’t charge a man they believe took two small children from an Atlanta-area gas station and later left them with friends.

DeKalb County police say Charles Watson of Stone Mountain turned himself in around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Police say they don’t think he intended to kidnap the children. Police say he took them from a gas station after their mother didn’t return within 30 minutes after speaking with police near her disabled car.

Detectives learned that the mother, Ashley Mattison, was delayed in returning because she accompanied the tow truck driver to drop off her vehicle Wednesday morning. She returned to the gas station and found the toddlers gone.

Two women contacted police Wednesday afternoon to say an acquaintance had left the children with them.