Police ID 3-year-old found on stranger's porch; grandmother fears parents are dead



BUFFALO, N.Y. – Police in Buffalo learned the identity of a 3-year-old boy found asleep on a stranger's porch Monday morning, Sept. 16, but as of Wednesday, they were still trying to figure out how he got there — and what happened to his parents.



The boy's paternal grandmother told WIVB that his name is Noelvin, and he traveled to Buffalo from Florida for a vacation with his parents and a family friend.

The grandmother, Zenaida Colon, said she last spoke to the boy's parents — Nicole Merced Plaud and Miguel Anthony Valentin-Colon — on Sunday, and said she fears that they were the people found dead in a burned-out car in Buffalo on Monday evening. The friend, Dhamyl Mirella Roman-Audiffred, was also missing. The vehicle was so badly burned that police were unable to identify the model.



Colon and other relatives who flew up from Florida said the couple has two other children, who were both safe at home. She said her son is a truck driver, and his wife is a stay-at-home mom.

"They are just regular parents," she said. "Great parents."

Police said "a complicated investigation" was underway, and it would take time to identify the remains found in the burned vehicle, reported the Buffalo News.

Noelvin was in the custody of Erie County Child Protective Services and authorities said they were working to reunite him with the relatives from Florida.

Lois Augsburger, the homeowner who found the boy, told WKBW that she asked him where his mommy was. "He said, 'The car's on fire.' That's all he kept saying," she said. (Read more Buffalo stories.)

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