Sallisaw woman jailed for not concealing child's whereabouts freed

Friday, December 16th 2005, 6:16 am

By: News On 6

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A woman who'd been jailed more than a year for refusing to disclose her child's whereabouts is released after revealing the name of the person she gave the child to.

Sequoyah County District Judge John Garrett ordered Thursday's release of 27-year-old Misty Van-Zandt after she told officials who it was she left her 7-year-old daughter with in Texas.

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Sheridan declined to disclose the individual's name or the location in Texas because the case involves a juvenile in a custody case. Sheridan says the information Van-Zandt supplied couldn't be immediately verified.

He says no further charges against Van-Zandt are expected.

Prosecutors sought a writ of habeas corpus, asking her to reveal the child's whereabouts. When she refused she was held in contempt.

Van-Zandt was jailed November 13th, 2004, and remained jailed in Sequoyah County, where a family member said she didn't trust local officials.