Holts Summit woman receives probation in child abduction

A Holts Summit woman pleaded guilty to an amended charge in a child-abduction case from May 2015.

Billie Jo Linhart, 32, pleaded guilty to a charge of interference with custody. She had been charged with felony child abduction.

For her plea, Linhart was placed on two years unsupervised probation.

Linhart and her son, Colton Lee Dominquez, were located in Omaha, Nebraska, after an endangered person advisory was issued to locate the boy.

Investigators with the Jefferson City Police Department received an anonymous tip on the pair's whereabouts in Omaha. This information was then relayed to Omaha police, who responded to the location, took custody of the child and apprehended the mother.

Due to Linhart's past behavior, authorities said Dominquez was believed to be in danger. The Cole County prosecutor's office filed a child-abduction charge against Linhart.

Court documents show Linhart failed to return Dominquez when she was scheduled to, per a court-ordered custody agreement with the boy's grandmother. Linhart was supposed to bring the boy back to his grandmother's home in Jefferson City.

According to court documents, the grandmother made numerous calls to Linhart asking her to bring back the child. Linhart replied via text message, "We're going back to court."

Jefferson City police checked numerous addresses for Linhart but could not find her. Police made several attempts to call Linhart, but she did not answer her phone and failed to call back, authorities said.

The grandmother got an ex-parte order, terminating Linhart's visitation rights immediately.

Authorities spoke with a person who resides with Linhart who said she showed up and packed her belongings, saying she and the boy were going to Omaha, and the son was going to stay with her.

Court records show Linhart previously has been arrested for failure to appear and endangering the welfare of a child.