Authorities have made a second arrest in the rape of a 16-month-old Tennessee boy, KTLA sister station WHNT in Huntsville, Alabama, reported on Monday.
Danielle Bowen, 22, was arrested on suspicion of felony child neglect, according to District Attorney Brent Cooper, the district attorney for the state’s 22nd Judicial District.
KTLA sister station WREG in Memphis, Tennessee, identified the woman as the child’s mother.
Bowen’s arrest follows the apprehension of suspected child rapist Simon Dean Porter, 33, who was the target of a nationwide manhunt. He was arrested Sunday in Scottsboro.
Porter is charged with aggravated rape after he allegedly sexually abused the boy on Nov. 10. After days of authorities circulating photos and adding him to Tennessee’s Top 10 Most Wanted List, Scottsboro police said someone saw him walking on Highway 79 Sunday.
Scottsboro Police said when they questioned Porter, he told them his name and said he was on his way to Huntsville.
Porter has a lengthy criminal record that includes violent crime, according to WHNT. He was charged with domestic assault in 2010 but the current charge against him, aggravated rape of a child, was his first felony.
People in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, told the WHNT they can’t believe this happened.
“I can’t wrap my head around it,” said Rebecca Ball. “That baby, it’s 16 months old. I can’t wrap my head around that and I bless the people that caught him because I know one thing, I was out looking for him.”
Porter is being held on a $1,000,000 bond and is scheduled to have his initial court appearance on December 6. The child was being treated at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.