Boy, 9, abducted; found safe hours later

Police said David Encarnacion was with his mother's boyfriend on River Street in Mattapan when he was abducted yesterday. (JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF)

A 9-year-old boy was abducted at gunpoint by two men outside his Mattapan home yesterday afternoon and was later found at a Logan airport terminal in a bizarre case that had police scrambling and ready to issue an Amber Alert.

The boy, David Encarnacion, was found safe and unhurt inside Terminal B shortly after 5 p.m., about three hours after he was reported taken, police said.

He was with an adult relative, who was taken in for questioning, but had not been charged with any crime as of last night, police said.

Police received conflicting accounts from the victim and witness in the case, complicating their efforts to respond to the kidnapping.

"This is a curious situation," said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Thankfully, the boy is safe. That's the most important thing. Now, we are trying to fill in the details."

Police believe David was taken against his will, however.

Police were about to issue an Amber Alert for David when he was found.

Late last night, David was in the custody of his mother and seemed jubilant as he described his frightening ideal.

"I told them, 'Don't hurt me,' " he said from inside a relative's car, reunited with his younger sister and family dog. "They took me, but they were nice. I was kind of scared."

David said he could see his kidnappers' weapons and said they threatened to kill his mother's boyfriend over money. He was with the boyfriend when he was abducted on River Street, police said.

The boyfriend - later identified as Carlos Perez, 26 - told police that he was robbed by two men at gunpoint and that they forced the boy into his girlfriend's 2003 Honda Accord and drove off.

Police said Perez gave conflicting accounts of where Elaine Encarnacion, the boy's mother, was, but they determined she was on her way back from Puerto Rico. Perez was arrested on outstanding warrants unrelated to the kidnapping. Police were investigating any ties Perez may have had to the kidnappers.

Encarnacion returned last night and was reunited with David at a police station in Mattapan.

Three hours after the abduction, police learned that David might be at Logan, and the Boston Police Fugitive Unit responded and found the boy with a relative.

Police are investigating how the boy ended up with the relative, but investigators are pursuing the possibility that the kidnappers realized the seriousness of what they had done and dropped the boy off.

A man who identified himself as the family member with the boy at the airport and who was questioned and released by police said that he picked up David at his Mattapan home and that he brought him to pick up his mother when she arrived from Puerto Rico.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.