Mother of missing Bluffton boy: 'I just have to hope'

Yenny Ponce had heard the same threat before, but the picture she received in late January terrified her.

It was a view from a plane window, sent by her estranged husband two days after he received temporary custody of her son and brought him from Pritchardville Elementary School in Bluffton to Clarksville, Tenn.

Ponce, 33, feared the picture was real and that the plane was heading for Mexico, just as her husband has always threatened.

It wasn't. Tennessee authorities found Christopher King-Ponce, 9, at home that day.

His mother's fear returned Friday, minutes after she regained custody of her son.

Her husband, 56-year-old William Stanley King, slipped out of Montgomery County Circuit Court in Tennessee, picked Christopher up from his new school and vanished.

On Tuesday, the Clarksville Police Department upgraded the charges against King, who is now wanted for "especially aggravated kidnapping."

Ponce, who lived with her son in Bluffton since April 2014, said Tuesday she felt overwhelming relief when the Tennessee judge threw out the month-old order that had given custody to King.

Even with the ruling, though, she had a bad feeling. She remembered the picture of the plane window and the phone call she received Jan. 31, in which King said he could make Christopher disappear.

Four days after her son's abduction, Ponce says she can't let herself imagine King would make good on his threats.

"I just have to hope," she said, her hands clasped in a tight ball. "That's all I can do. (And) wait. I wish I could do more.

"He is a very sweet boy, a very mommy's boy, and I know for sure he needs me. Wherever he is, he needs me."

A DISPUTE OVER MONEY

The ordeal began over a $500 check, Ponce says.

While King is not Christopher's biological father, he was married to Ponce when the boy was born and is listed on his birth certificate.

King received two monthly Social Security disability checks, one for his disability and one for looking after Christopher, according to Ponce and her attorney, Pamela Blackshire. The check for Christopher's care came despite the fact that King and Ponce only lived together briefly nine years ago and for about five months in 2013 and 2014.

In late 2014, Ponce learned about the second check and had Social Security officials redirect it to Bluffton from Tennessee.

King, she said, didn't like that.

In a Dec. 12 email, provided by Blackshire, he wrote to Ponce: "I am now mad at you again because you are taking the money I told you not to touch."

That email was filed with the Beaufort County Family Court on Jan. 30, when Ponce filed an emergency order to regain custody.

In the email, King tells Ponce he would be filing for divorce -- which he did on Jan. 20, according to Montgomery County Circuit Court staff -- and said he would take custody of Christopher and make her pay child support.

"I have money for good lawyer and you don't," he wrote. "In the U.S. the best lawyer always wins."

A THREATENING VIDEO

On Jan. 2, Ponce heard pounding at her door and knew that King had followed her to Bluffton.

Bluffton police cited him for trespassing and took her statement that her estranged husband had been verbally abusive and threatening.

Back in Tennessee on Jan. 20, King filed for divorce and received temporary custody of Christopher after furnishing printouts of a Craigslist posting in which Ponce reportedly offered the 9-year-old to pedophiles, according to the man's lawyer, Mark Scruggs.

That allegation was proven false, police say.

Three days later, King picked the child up from school in Bluffton and brought him back to Clarksville.

Ponce scoffed Tuesday when her lawyer mentioned the allegation. She says she did not know about the claims, or the custody order, until Jan. 23, when she waited at Christopher's bus stop for a child who would never get off the bus. Police later explained that Christopher was already on his way to Tennessee.

A video from King came two days later.

For 16 minutes, King speaks from his seat in front of a Bruce Lee poster and a patchwork backdrop of brown construction paper. Between lecturing Ponce about the "requirements" she will face to regain visitation and then custody of her son, he implores her to return to her "family."

"You can just do the easy thing, baby. Come on home and be a mother," King advises.

"I never said I didn't love you," he continues later. "I might have called you some names, called you things like stupid (expletive), but that's not anything like saying I didn't love you, because I do."

Blackshire said she doesn't believe King cares about Christopher. Rather, Blackshire believes King thought "(Ponce) won't be able to fight me, and I can coerce her by hitting her where it hurts -- taking her child -- to come back to me."

'I MISS HIM SO BAD'

It's not clear why the Montgomery County Circuit Court granted King custody before authorities confirmed the claims of child abuse he made against Ponce, which local investigators ruled false Friday.

Analysis by the S.C. Attorney General's Office traced the Craigslist posting to King, not Ponce, according to Sgt. Kelly Heany of the Bluffton Police Department.

Scruggs said he does not condone King's actions since Friday, but added he is not convinced the boy wasn't abused. Clarksville police have declined to comment on the case, though Scruggs said there were allegations reported to the department beyond the Craigslist posting.

"Everything we did was through the authorities, and I haven't seen any report or analysis of the posting," said Scruggs, who said he has not had contact with King since he left court.

It has been about 40 days since Ponce saw her son, whom she describes as a smart, quiet boy who loves video games and follows his mother wherever she goes.

Speaking as if to her son Tuesday, Ponce said, "I love him so much. Mommy is doing whatever she has to do to get him back, and he knows. ... I miss him so bad, so bad."

Additional information, including King's criminal history, was not available Tuesday from the court or the Clarksville Police Department.

Anyone with information should contact Clarksville police at 931-648-0656 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND.

Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.

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This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 12:40 PM.