Ricky Chekevdia, four, and his mother went missing in 2007. Police suspect he was held captive in a small, concealed cell in his grandmother’s rural Illinois home, and his mother is to blame. Ricky is pictured in August 2007 at a wedding in West Frankfort, Illinois.

How did Ricky Chekevdia keep safe for so long in a cramped 12 x 5 foot space? Ricky’s mother, Shannon Wilfong, is suspected of kidnapping him on September 21, 2007, after a contentious guardianship fight with Ricky’s father, Mike Chekevdia. Ricky was under his parents’ joint guardianship at the time. This undated family photo shows Ricky and his father.

Shannon Wilfong, 30, was charged with legal felony abduction after her 6-year-old son, Ricky Chekevdia, was located in a small, concealed room behind a partition in Wilfong’s mother’s Illinois home. Diane Dobbs, the child’s grandmother, was charged with complicity.

Authorities were led to the house of Ricky Chekevdia’s grandmother, Diane Dobbs, in Franklin County, Illinois, thanks to a tip. The boy was being held in an unfinished plumbing area of his Dobbs’ house, according to US Marshals and Illinois State Police. According to police, Ricky was not allowed to go outdoors or even post the window other than in the evening. His room’s roof was just four feet high.

Diane Dobbs, Ricky Chekevdia’s grandmother, claimed that Ricky’s father, Mike Chekevdia, mis.t.r.eated him and that she was trying to protect the child. She also claims that Ricky spent most of his time outside the room. Mike Chekevdia, 48, a former police officer and lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard, denied any wrongdoing. Dobbs is charged with aiding and abetting.

Ricky Chekevdia poses with his father, Mike Chekevdia, during a wedding in West Frankfort, Illinois, in August 2007. Ricky disappeared shortly after this shot was taken. He returned on September 4, 2009, after authorities located him in a mysterious chamber in his grandmother’s house.

Mike Chekevdia, here with his son before the abduction in 2007, claims he has only seen Ricky through a car window since the youngster was rescued. Chekevdia says he’d prefer not to push his kid, but he can’t wait to get Ricky back into a normal routine and reunite him with their dog, Ace.

Ricky Chekevdia, seen here before his 2007 snatching, is a government dependent as of Aug. 8, 2009. The 6-year-old is staying with a relative of his father, Mike Chekevdia, after spending two years in bondage, according to authorities. According to an adjudicator, the goal is to reunite father and son.