TEMPE, Ariz. — A warrant was issued last week for a Tempe mother who fled with her two children after failing to turn over custody of her 7-year-old son to his custodial parent in mid-August, according to the Chandler Police Department.
On Aug. 18, the child's father, Shawn Hammack, filed a police report and attempted to contact the mother, Amy Harshbarger, according to court documents.
A week later, a missing person case was filed for Harshbarger and her children after police learned the three had not been to their Tempe home since Aug. 13. She stopped using her cellphone the day prior, possibly destroying it, according to court documents.
Harshbarger had told friends they were going camping in the Prescott or Payson area but was not specific, according to family.
Court documents show police spoke to a "subject" who denied any knowledge at first, but then said Harshbarger had fled Arizona with her children and that she traded her two vehicles in exchange for a third, which was photographed by a license plate reader in Alabama, in order to evade police. The documents also say the subject and Harshbarger had a mutual friend who had recently moved to Tennessee.
The subject also told police Harshbarger fled because she said Hammack was abusive to their shared child.
However, court documents say those allegations have been investigated by police and by the family division of the court, and have been unfounded.