Savage couple convicted of kidnapping their infant

A couple from Savage has been convicted of kidnapping their 7-week-old infant amid a child abuse investigation.

Amanda Wamack, 31, and Zachariah Christopher Whitehead, 30, were each convicted last week of kidnapping and deprivation of parental or custodial rights.

As previously reported, Whitehead and Wamack had brought their 7-week-old infant to the emergency room with a fractured arm. They told medical staff the infant was “wiggly”, and the injury might have happened while changing the child’s clothes.

Hospital staff reported the parents to Scott County Child Protection, who wanted to put the baby into a relative’s care while they worked to determine how the injury happened.

Whitehead and Wamack allegedly protested and “were very upset” at the prospect of their baby being placed in someone else’s care. They also said they were “sovereign citizens” who disagreed with the law, the warrant states. Regardless, the child’s grandmother assumed care of the baby, and the parents were barred from staying at the grandmother’s home.

Child Protection then told Savage police that the grandmother, Whitehead and Wamack weren’t answering their phones. Police went to the grandmother’s home and found that the parents had left with the child on Monday night and that the grandmother “rescinded” her role as caregiver “as she did not agree with it.”

Authorities tracked the couple to Whitehead’s former address in Kentucky using cellphone data.