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Missing 2-year-old Raleigh boy's father charged with murder

Investigators have arrested the parents of a missing 2-year-old boy, charging his father with murder and his mother with misdemeanor child abuse, Raleigh police said Thursday morning.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Investigators have arrested the parents of a missing 2-year-old boy, charging his father with murder and his mother with misdemeanor child abuse, Raleigh police said Thursday morning.

"Investigative developments overnight by Raleigh Police Department detectives have led the Tristan Blue missing-person case in a new direction," spokesman Jim Sughrue said in a statement.

Steven Daniel Blue, 31, and Briana Loriel Dangerfield, 25, both of 5416 Portree Place, #1, Raleigh, were taken into custody Thursday morning. Blue was being held in the Wake County jail without bond; Dangerfield was jailed under a $100,000 bond.

Tristan's body, however, has not been found, and police did not provide any other details about the case.

"Officers and detectives will be doing follow-up work concerning all aspects of the case today and in the days ahead," Sughrue said in an email. "Certainly, work to determine the location of the child's remains will be part of that effort."

Officers started looking for Tristan on Wednesday after family members reported that he wandered away from Arbor Creek Apartments off Buck Jones Road in southwest Raleigh as early as 7:45 a.m.

An arrest warrant alleges Dangerfield left the child at home unattended while she went to work.

A neighbor who did not want to be identified told WRAL News that she went to do laundry around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday and saw the door to Dangerfield and Blue's apartment cracked open and papers scattered on the floor.

A couple hours later, the neighbor said, she noticed that the door was still open. She said she was about to call police when officers knocked on her door.

Darkness forced police to suspend their search Wednesday night, but officers remained at the apartment complex overnight and access to the neighborhood was restricted to residents.

A tow truck carried a silver station wagon, which neighbors said belonged to the family, from the complex around 6 a.m. Thursday, and crime scene tape surrounded dumpsters by the apartment building.

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