Earlier this week country singer Mindy McCready snatched her five-year-old son Zander from her father’s house in Cape Coral, Florida and took him to her home in Nashville despite the fact that she is not the legal custodial guardian for the boy.
A caseworker with the Florida Department of Children and Families alerted authorities that McCready had unlawfully removed the child from the area. A judge ordered Mindy to return the boy by Thursday at 5:00 p.m. or risk an arrest warrant.
Mindy tried to explain her situation yesterday on her Facebook page, but never mentioned the reason why she snatched her boy. That all changed when she granted a phone interview to an AP reporter, shedding an interesting new light on the already bizarre chain of circumstances.
The latest twist in the case is that the musician is reportedly seven months pregnant with twins and doesn’t think it would be a good idea to travel back to Florida in her present condition. The baby daddy is a music producer named David, who is reportedly supportive of her decision to remove the boy from Florida and try to regain custody.
McCready is hopeful that the case will be moved to the Tennessee court system, a state that might be more sympathetic to her situation. She claims that the boy has been abused by her estranged mother, Gayle Inge, who was granted custody of Zander several years ago. Inge called the allegations “absolutely not true.”
The singer, who has visitation rights, tried to rationalize her decision to flee with the child, “I’m a mom first. No matter what happens, I’m going to protect my kid. If I have to go to jail, so be it.”
Mindy has a track record that would make most judges cringe. She has suffered for years from substance addiction, with multiple stints in rehab. She has also been hospitalized following a number of failed suicide attempts.
She dropped a bombshell some years ago by revealing that she had carried on a secret ten-year affair with MLB player Roger Clemens beginning when she was 15.
Yesterday was McCready’s 36th birthday. The saga is far from over but the ball is clearly in her court right now.
Photos: WENN, video screen grab