Photo Courtesy Of NBC and Aiken County Sheriff's Office
Missing South Carolina mother Krystal Anderson’s boyfriend, Tony Berry, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping.
According to NBC, Berry was arrested and charged with kidnapping concerning Anderson’s sudden disappearance on Aug. 20. The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office announced that he was taken into custody on Sept. 28–over a month after the South Carolina mother-of-four vanished.
“It was believed that Krystal was in the company of Tony Lee Berry at her home on Seivern Road in Wagener,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a press release about the last time Anderson was seen. “Results in this investigation has led investigators to obtaining an arrest warrant for Berry in relation to the disappearance of Krystal.”
Captain Eric Abdullah reportedly said a tipster saw Berry and contacted the police. He added that the suspect was being held at the Lexington County Detention Center, and on Sept. 29, he was “transferred to the Aiken County Detention Center.”
Meanwhile, Krystal has yet to be found, but Captain Abdullah said his office is “still searching.” The young woman’s case was featured on Dateline‘s ‘Missing in America’ series on Sept. 23, where reporters spoke to her concerned sister Shadira Smothers. Smothers said one of Anderson’s children’s fathers previously called her saying the now-missing woman didn’t pick their son up from his house. He also reportedly told her that he hadn’t heard from the South Carolina mother, so she called Berry. Smother then called Berry, who claimed he hadn’t seen Anderson since the morning of the day she went missing, she said.
Police reports revealed that Anderson’s mother, Wanda Sumpter, told officers that it was “very irregular behavior” for the woman to disappear. Sumpter continued, saying, “she normally has communication with Wanda or other family members on a daily basis” and that she “was very concerned due to past history of violence with Krystal and her boyfriend, Tony Berry.”
Despite how grim things may seem, Smothers said that her family is “still hopeful” and has faith that authorities “will bring [Krystal] back alive.”
She additionally told Dateline that they found out about Berry’s arrest via the news, as “law enforcement has yet to reach out” to them.