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After seven years of searching, a family has finally been reunited. Abdul Aziz Khan was discovered during an attempted break-in in Colorado on February 23. He was kidnapped in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2017 by his non-custodial mother, Rabia Khalid. According to Douglas County officials, the now-14-year-old was taken by his mother and her new husband when he was only 5 years old, during a protracted custody battle with his father.
After homeowners in a vacant Highlands Ranch home reported trespassing after noticing suspicious activity on their security cameras, Douglas County authorities arrested Khalid, 40, and Elliot Blake Bourgeois, 42. According to Douglas County, after hours of interrogation, Khalid and Bourgeois were discovered to be Khan's kidnappers, despite having claimed to be connected to the home's realtor.
A 2022 episode of Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries revealed that Khan's mother had an active warrant for kidnapping at the time of her arrest because she had not appeared for a custody hearing in Atlanta in November 2017.
According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Khalid and Bourgeois were charged with second-degree kidnapping, forgery, identity theft, giving false information to authorities, and trespassing after her arrest last month. A $1 million bond has been set for each of them.
In addition to Khan, another younger child, whose name was withheld, was found in a car parked close to the abandoned house where Khalid and Bourgeois were found by police.
Following his recuperation, Khan and the other child were placed under protective custody.
“We’re overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found,” Khan’s family later said in a statement to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. “We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years. We specifically want to recognize the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for their exceptional work in solving this case. Now, as we navigate the next steps, we ask for privacy so that we can move forward as a family and heal together.”
