MIDDLETOWN — Christina Bookal’s family can do little but hope and pray that 4-year-old Marc Bookal is found safe, and soon.
"We’re just waiting and seeing, and hoping and praying that there has been no harm done to our grandchild," said the Rev. Grace Coston of Kingston, Bookal’s mother. "I really, really don’t believe that Cory (Byrd) would do any harm to Marc."
Marc Bookal disappeared about 1:15 p.m. Monday, while his mother’s boyfriend, Cory Byrd, was watching him. They were preparing to go to a relative’s home, Christina Bookal said, when, according to Byrd, the boy walked out of the apartment alone. When Byrd followed him out the door a couple of minutes later, they told police, the boy was gone.
Christina Bookal has always been very independent, the grandmother said. She wasn’t sure how long Bookal and Byrd, who have a son and daughter together, have been back together.
"As a family, we didn’t know Cory or the element that they lived in. We didn’t approve of the element," Coston said. "She seemed to be very much in love with Cory, so we didn’t argue with her."
Aside from the reckless endangerment charge he ultimately pleaded to, Coston said, she didn’t know details of the 1998 case where Byrd was initially charged with causing serious injuries to her daughter’s oldest child, Christian, who was then 14 months old.
In his plea, Byrd admitted to leaving Christian alone for a hour and a half. He had told police that when he got back to the apartment, the child was choking on a piece of candy, and that he tried to do the Heimlich maneuver to clear the child’s airway. He took the boy to the hospital, where staff notified police.
The family is focusing on supporting her, Coston said.
"I just pray that Marc is found as soon as possible," she said.
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