UPDATE: Whitley teen safe, Indiana man facing kidnapping charge

Travis Bryant, above left, has been missing since Friday morning. Above right, James Wimmer is accused of his kidnapping.

A Whitley County teen who has been missing since Friday is safe and the Indiana man accused of aiding his flight from his foster home is in custody in Kokomo, Ind.

Whitley County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy KY Fuson said authorities from Kokomo contacted Whitley County E911 Monday night to inform them that 25-year-old James Silas Wimmer was in custody and had been served with the kidnapping warrant issued in Whitley County following the investigation into the disappearance of 16-year-old Travis Bryant.

Officials with the sheriff’s department stated previously that Bryant was reported missing from his foster home on Piney Grove Road about 6:30 a.m. Friday.

Roger Meadors, a foster parent, told police that when he woke up Friday morning Bryant was gone.

Fuson said it appears that Wimmer and Bryant had been in contact for some time through phone calls and social media planning this move.

“Wimmer and Bryant’s mothers were good friends and that is how they knew each other,” Fuson said, noting that Bryant was put into the foster system after his parents died.

Through the course of the investigation Friday, deputies identified Wimmer as a suspect.

“I spoke with Wimmer when it began after we discovered the phone calls they had made to each other,” Fuson said. “I told him, ‘If you have him, you are going to face kidnapping charges,’”

Fuson noted that during that conversation Wimmer denied that he had anything to do with Bryant’s disappearance or any knowledge of where he might be.

Fuson said further investigation resulted in deputies securing the arrest warrant for Wimmer.

Fuson noted that Wimmer is also facing a charge of failure to appear in court in Kokomo. That matter must be resolved before he can be returned to Whitley County.

As to Bryant’s future, Fuson said that will be determined by social services and a judge in Nelson County where the teen was initially place into the foster system.

Even though Bryant’s flight was voluntary, Fuson said the situation still meets one of the legal definitions of kidnapping.

Under Kentucky Law, since the victim has been found alive and unharmed, the charge is a Class B felony, which carries a potential sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.