In November 2007, an Illinois mother and her young son mysteriously vanished – seemingly into thin air. Shannon Wilfong and her six-year-old son, Ricky Chekevdia, were then considered missing by police for over two years following their disappearance. For what seemed like forever, the boy’s father, Michael Chekevdia, waited in agony for any type of break in the case that might give police a clue as to their whereabouts.
Shannon and Michael had a history of relationship problems, and mainly considered their companionship to be “on again, off again” for several years. However, after their son Ricky was born, the couple came to an agreement on a split custody arrangement. Neither parent wanted Ricky growing up in a house full of arguing and tension.
Ricky loved both of his parents dearly, and he was especially close with his father. Michael was an active member of the military for the U.S. Army, so unfortunately, that meant that he would have to be deployed to Iraq shortly after Ricky’s birth. Still, the two maintained a close bond even from overseas.
When Michael was finally able to return home, things were most definitely not the same as they were when he had left. Shannon was now refusing to let Michael see his son, and soon, a court hearing needed to be scheduled in order to establish firm visitation rights for Michael. Shannon did not show up to the hearing.
Not long after that court hearing, Michael quickly realized that both Shannon and Ricky were missing. He contacted the police to file a missing person’s report for his son, and a warrant was then immediately issued for Shannon’s arrest. Police assumed that Shannon’s motivation for vanishing was simply to avoid giving Michael the right to see his son, but why would she do such a thing?
While interviewing Shannon’s mother, Diane Dobbs, police were told a dark story about Michael being an abusive man who would hit his son. She even went as far as to create flyers and posters decrying Michael’s alleged abusive behavior, and she spread the word about it to several members of the community. Was any of this actually based on facts?
Throughout the smear campaign against him, Michael always had the strong suspicion that Diane knew more about his son’s disappearance than she was letting on, but unfortunately, he didn’t have any concrete evidence to support his theory. Two years passed by with no sign of Ricky or Shannon, but then one day in 2009, the police would receive a tip that blew the case wide open.
Detectives had already searched the home of Diane Dobbs shortly after her daughter and grandson had initially vanished, but when the search concluded, they did not find anything of significance to report. However, following their new information, police then searched the home again and were absolutely shocked at what they found. Behind a curiously placed dresser was a small opening in the wall that led to a narrow crawl space, and inside of it was Shannon and Ricky! They had finally been located!
Police noted that once he was in their care, Ricky ran around outside like he hadn’t been outdoors in a very long time. Shannon was then immediately arrested for felony child abduction, and Diane was charged with aiding and abetting her daughter’s crime. After making bail, Diane made a public claim that Ricky may have only spent a total of “five minutes” inside of the confined space. However, the court of public opinion had already made up its’ mind, and they weren’t buying her story.
Michael was bewildered by the fact that his child’s mother could ever do such a thing, but most of all, he was overwhelmed with joy to be able to see his son again. His reputation was no longer in question as the true facts of the case eventually came to light.
Shannon pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to two years probation along with a fine. Ricky was then placed in the full-time care of his father Michael, who retired from the Army to take care of his son on a constant basis.
After such a harrowing ordeal, you may be wondering how all of these events might have affected Ricky? Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have any significant impact on his naturally energetic and bright personality. Michael was able to walk away with a happy ending from what could have been a tragic situation, and that’s something that you just don’t see often enough.
