Seven years after he was reported missing from Atlanta, 14-year-old Abdul Aziz Khan, whose case was featured in a 2022 episode of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix, has been found in the Denver area.
Khan was found Feb. 23 after the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office responded to a trespass call in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, to investigate a burglary, according to a press release. They found two adults allegedly entering a vacant house while two children were in a vehicle parked in the driveway, one of whom was identified as Khan.
The female suspect was identified to be Rabia Khalid, Khan’s non-custodial parent who had an active warrant for allegedly kidnapping her son from Atlanta, Georgia, in 2017. Khan and the younger child were both taken into protective custody.
Khalid and suspect Elliot Blake Bourgeois, who was also at the scene, are facing charges for forgery, identity theft, providing false information to authorities, and trespassing. District Attorney George Brauchler clarified Bourgeois is also being charged with kidnapping while Khalid is not, as “one of the nuances of the law is that you cannot kidnap your own child,” per NBC News. Their bond was set to $1 million each.
In a statement via the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Khan’s family said, “We’re overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found. We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years. We specifically want to recognize the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for their exceptional work in solving this case. Now, as we navigate the next steps, we ask for privacy so that we can move forward as a family and heal together.”
Photo: Netflix
Regarding Khan’s reunion with his family, Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said, “This is the only life Aziz has known, and so it is going to take some time to get to that point. What I will tell you is there wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” per CBS News.
U.S. Marshal Enix Smith III also thanked Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries in the press release for “directing the public’s attention to this matter.”
Abdul’s case was featured in Season 3, Episode 9, titled “Abducted By A Parent,” that asked, “When your child is kidnapped by their own parent, what recourse does the family have? These two cases explore the unique pain of parental abduction.”
The other missing child case featured in the episode has also since been solved. Kayla Unbehaun was nine years old when her mother Heather Unbehaun abducted her in 2017, per NBC News.
She was reunited with her family in 2023 after a storeowner recognized her while shopping with her mother in Asheville, North Carolina.
Unsolved Mysteries is streaming now on Netflix.
