Missing 5-year-old Texas child found in Colorado with noncustodial parent

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) — U.S. Marshals found a missing 5-year-old child from Texas in Colorado on Tuesday.

With the help of federal agents in Colorado, the child was found with a noncustodial parent from Cedar Park in Cañon City, south of Colorado Springs. The child is now with the child protection division of the Colorado Department of Human Services, U.S. Marshals said. It's unclear if the noncustodial parent has been charged with a crime, so once we receive that information, we will update this story.

On Oct. 25, Cedar Park and state law enforcement asked the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in Austin to help find the child. It was later found the parent fled with the child and was headed to Colorado.

The next day, U.S. Marshals in Colorado found the 2006 Chevrolet Impala the noncustodial parent was driving in a parking lot off U.S. Highway 50 in Cañon City.

The U.S. Marshals are given "enhanced discretionary authority" to help local law enforcement in these cases thanks to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. It allows the service to "assist law enforcement agencies with the recovery of missing, endangered, or abducted children, regardless of whether a fugitive or sex offender was involved."

Since the act became law, U.S. Marshals have recovered more than 1,960 missing children, the agency said.