Aurora mom facing charges but boys home safe
Three young Aurora boys who were missing for more than a month now are happily home with their father after what they thought was a long vacation on Florida beaches.
But their mother, who took the youngsters after an argument with their father, is in Cook County jail facing a kidnapping charge because she brought a 17-year-old Cicero girl along, authorities said Wednesday.
Laureth “Laurie” May, 29, of Aurora, also is facing a charge of criminal sexual assault for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl who was a student at Acacia Academy in La Grange Highlands when May taught there, according to ABC 7.
May’s sons, 4-year-old Quincy Collins, 2-year-old Oliver Collins and 1-year-old Spencer Collins, were reunited with their father, 38-year-old Shelton Collins of Aurora, on March 20 in Florida.
“They just ran up and jumped into my arms and said ‘Daddy, we missed you!’” Collins said Wednesday.
The reunion happened after police in Ft. Pierce, Fla., randomly ran the license plate of the boys’ mother, Laureth “Laurie” May, and determined it was registered to a missing person.
May took the boys from their Aurora home about 3:30 a.m. Feb. 15 after an argument with Collins, who is her fiance. Police said she was believed to have been traveling with a 17-year-old Cicero girl, who was reported missing shortly after May left Aurora.
Collins, who has been in a relationship with May for about 10 years, said he has spoken with her since she returned to Cook County for a bond hearing March 24. He said she left because postpartum depression and stress related to losing her job after searching for employment for two years caused a mental breakdown.
“She just really felt like she was trapped and she had to escape,” Collins said. “It was a nightmare for her and definitely for me because the kids weren’t here.”
Collins and the boys’ grandmother, May’s mother Tara Selman of Batavia, said they plan to get counseling for Quincy, Oliver and Spencer to work through any issues they might have from being gone for a month.
“We have to try to find out the rest of the story and get help where it’s needed and where it will do the most good,” Selman said.
Selman said she thinks the story of why May left and how she got to Florida without being traced by credit card purchases or other records will “come out in an evolutionary manner, a bit at a time.”
May is scheduled to appear May 1 in Cook County court in Maywood and it’s possible more facts could come out related to the kidnapping and sexual assault cases. She’s being held on $500,000 bail, according to the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court.
For now, Collins said he has been helping the boys get re-acclimated to life in Aurora after their return March 23. He took them to Chuck-E-Cheese’s to let them have some fun and is making day care arrangements so he can go back to work at the small business he runs in Chicago.
“They love being home. They ask about their mom every day. They missed their dad,” Collins said. “They really are just happy to be home.”