The little boy who lived inside a wall

A six-year-old boy allegedly abducted in a custody dispute nearly two years ago has been found hiding with his mother behind a false wall at his grandmother's home. Police believe that Ricky Chekevdia spent 22 months inside the two-storey house in rural southern Illinois.

"We let him out of the (patrol) car and he ran around like he'd never seen outdoors. It was actually very sad," Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Stan Diggs said. "He was very happy to be outside. He said he never goes outside."



Investigators were issued with a court order to search the house. They found Ricky with his mother Shannon Wilfong in a hideaway roughly 5 feet by 12 feet and about the height of a washing machine. Miss Wilfong, 30, has been charged with felony child abduction and Ricky's grandmother, Diane Dobbs, 51, is charged with aiding and abetting.

The boy is now staying with one of his father's relatives while state child-welfare workers investigated claims that his father Mike Chekevdia abused the child before his disappearance.



The 48-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Illinois National Guard rejected the allegations and said he was thrilled his son had been found.

"Two years? You have no idea," he said from his house in Royalton, Ill., some three miles from the home where his son turned up. "I've lost sleep. I've lost weight. I've gained weight. I wouldn't wish this on anybody." After hearing his son had been found, he said, "you could have knocked me over with a feather".