Missing Boys Located Safe, Ben And Henry Cleary Returned Home To Christmas Gifts

By Jeff Stone | December 30 2012 11:25 AM

Two boys who had been the focus of a nationwide Amber Alert were found alive and healthy earlier this week with their father at his home in Austin, Texas. Henry Cleary, 7, and Ben Cleary, 9, last spoke with their mother Theresa Nash before Christmas when they were in Tennessee. Now CBS reports that Daniel Cleary, the boys’ father, is facing charges for failing to return the brothers to their mother in Atlanta by Wednesday.

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Ben and Henry Cleary were located with their father in Austin, TX.

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“They were going on a trip there - that's where they called me from. And said they were going there to a hotel for an evening. And then when they were supposed to return home, they never returned home," Theresa Nash said.

The boys were supposed to be home by Dec. 26 but never arrived and were last seen on a surveillance camera leaving a Chatanooga, TN. Wal-Mart three days before with their dad. Police were worried after Ms. Nash told them Daniel had been acting erratically lately and couldn’t be found at his home.

“He bought a Glock a month ago," said Nash. "He is drinking. He is under extreme stress because he probably realizes that he's kidnapped the kids and there's now an Amber Alert."

An Austin resident recognized the trio from the amber Alert and notified authorities, who arrested Daniel Cleary at an Austin hotel with a gun and a large amount of cash. Theresa Nash’s Christmas gift was pure relief after days of worrying.

“Santa Claus brought them an Xbox 360 and they have begged all year for that and I told them no. It's waiting under the tree so you need to come back soon because you're going to be out of your mind with excitement," she told Atlanta’s CBS affiliate.