Adoptive mother extradited to Arizona in case of boy's disappearance and death
Crystal Wilson was extradited from Georgia to Phoenix on Saturday to face charges in connection to the disappearance and death of her 10-year-old adopted son, Jesse Wilson.
Jesse was last seen alive in 2016 in his Buckeye home. His remains were found six miles from his home about two years after his disappearance. Buckeye police said Crystal was booked into the Maricopa County jail overnight Saturday.
In December, 54-year-old Crystal was arrested in Gainesville, Georgia, on one count of abandonment or concealment of a dead body, after being indicted by a Maricopa County Grand Jury. She had been held at the Hall County Jail in Georgia and was held on a $50,000 bond until her extradition back to Phoenix.
Jesse Wilson's remains found two years after disappearance
Jesse was last seen was on the night of July 17, 2016, in his bedroom at his Buckeye home near 239th Avenue and Twilight Trail. He was reported missing by his adoptive mother, Crystal, the next morning.
Buckeye police determined that he slipped out of his second-floor bedroom window and had wandered off — an action police say was not unusual for the boy.
Jesse faced the dangers of sweltering midsummer heat, prompting an extensive and prolonged search.
Search parties involved federal investigators, neighbors and volunteers. Teams worked throughout the summer to try and find Jesse. The Buckeye Police Department continued investigating for months, but for nearly two years, there were few updates on the case.
In March 2018, a Buckeye city employee found scattered skeletal remains in a field near the intersection of State Route 85 and Broadway Road. Later that month, DNA analysis showed that the remains were Jesse's by comparing them with the DNA from his biological father.
The location of his remains was about 6 miles away from his house, but it was within a perimeter initially searched in the summer of 2016. According to police, the area was prone to flooding, and initial searches were unable to lead to Jesse's remains because the area was flooded at the time.
His cause of death was considered "undetermined," but police investigated the case as a homicide with the help of the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force, officials said.
Buckeye police investigators at the time had even reportedly been "inching" toward a no-body homicide case against Crystal Wilson just five weeks after her boy went missing. Crystal had left Arizona just weeks before Jesse's remains were recovered in 2018 and had been living in Georgia. She was arrested Dec. 13, 2022.
The case broke after Buckeye police reassigned it in November 2020 to a new investigator, who gathered new evidence and reexamined old leads. The new Buckeye detective worked with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to explore new angles.
Ultimately, authorities linked Wilson to Jesse's body through the use of DNA evidence along with "visual evidence" placing her near the area where Jesse's remains were found.
Reach breaking news reporter Ellie Willard at ellie.willard@gannett.com or on Twitter @EllieWillardAZ.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Crystal Wilson booked into AZ jail, faces charges