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Pair linked to missing Durham boy, woman arrested

Police arrested a Durham man and woman linked to the disappearances of a boy and a woman during a home raid on Dunstan Avenue Tuesday.

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DURHAM, N.C. — Police arrested a Durham man and woman linked to the disappearances of a boy and a woman during a home raid on Dunstan Avenue Tuesday.

Officers arrested Vania Sisk, 25, and her boyfriend, Peter Lucas Moses, 27, during a raid at 121-B Dunstan Ave. Sisk is the mother of  5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan who hasn't been seen since October.

Investigators believe that Sisk and Moses were "directly involved" in the deaths of Jadon and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, who has been missing since December, a homicide detective wrote in an application for a recent search warrant. No charges have been filed in the disappearances.

Jamiel Higganbothan, Jadon's father, said he was "very, very surprised" but relieved to hear about the arrests.

"When you do something as treacherous as taking the lives of two innocent people, then of course, why wouldn't you be on the run?" he said.

Sisk was charged with failure to appear in court charge stemming from a previous misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. She was given a $5,000 bond and scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Moses faces charges of second-degree kidnapping, assault by pointing a gun, assault on a female, communicating threats and failure to appear in court. He was denied bond.

Arrest warrants state that Moses kidnapping a 16-year-old girl identified only the initials "Z.T." He hit her several times, pointed a semi-automatic gun at her and threatened to kill her, police state in the warrants.

Moses was initially arrested in early March when he was found hiding in a closet in a home at 2109 Pear Tree Lane. He was served without standing warrants for carrying a concealed weapon, discharging a firearm in city limits and writing a worthless check, but didn't show up in court later that month.

On Monday, police searched the home on 2109 Pear Tree Lane, where Sisk, Moses, McKoy and Jadon once lived, and a nearby boarded-up home at 2310 So Hi Drive. It was unclear what police were looking for or what they might have found.

Police have searched the Pear Tree Lane home and nearby woods several times since February. They found a bullet, shell casing and evidence of human blood and "overt cleaning" inside the house, according to a search warrant released last week.

A confidential informant told Durham police in February that both Jadon and McKoy were killed in the Pear Tree Lane house and that their bodies were disposed of. The informant said they lived there with members of the Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes it descends directly from the ancient tribes of Israel.

Sisk, Moses and others moved to Colorado Springs early this year, and Durham police asked Colorado authorities to check on Jadon's whereabouts. Authorities put several other children in the Colorado Springs home into protective custody but couldn't find Jadon.

Sisk later returned to Durham and met with investigators in early March and told them she left Jadon with an acquaintance on Feb. 20. Police have said her statements were inconsistent.

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