By Kenny Porpora
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The three-year-old boy from Jacksonville, Fla. who had been missing for two days was found inside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, police said.
Nathaniel Fons was left inside the church Tuesday night with nothing but a note in his pocket bearing the name and number of a Florida detective.
His mother, Erin Comeau, 26, had been arrested Sunday in Jacksonville for passing a counterfeit $100 bill. She left her son with two friends whom police believe abandoned him inside the church.
Security cameras showed a woman had walked the toddler into the church around 6:30 p.m., slipped a note in his pocket and rushed off, police said.
The boy, who had been the subject of an Amber alert for two days in Flagler County, was rescued and placed with Children's Protective Services after a guard at the church called the detective and the NYPD.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster these past two days," Donald Fons, the boys grandfather, told the New York Post. "It was total heartbreak. A total empty feeling when they left."
The boys grandparents began pursuing custody of the child after the his father was arrested two months ago on a warrant for a vehicle break-in. With his mother recently arrested as well, the grandparents were left worried and helpless.
"It was just terrifying," Donald told the Post. "We found out he was missing Monday morning...We told police 'We have no idea who these people are.'"
After he was left alone, church employees surrounded the boy, called police, and got him to a New York hospital where he as determined to be unharmed.
"Thank goodness the people knew enough that St. Patrick's is a place that a child can be taken care of and be safe," Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling told the Post.
