Four arrested in Abduction of Liberty Toddler

On Dec. 5, at approximately 9pm, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a physical confrontation and subsequent kidnapping of a small child on Sherri Lane in Liberty. Upon arrival, deputies discovered that multiple occupants in two separate vehicles had moments earlier been involved in a physical altercation with the mother of a small child along with a neighbor that had attempted to come to the mother’s aid. Witnesses informed the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office that the occupants from both vehicles attacked the mother while she was holding the child outside near a driveway and had forcibly gained possession of the child, placed the toddler into one of the vehicles and fled the scene. The neighbor who was later determined to be a witness had also left prior to deputies arriving at the location and went to a local emergency room where he was treated for a large laceration to the arm. Detectives immediately launched an investigation and subsequent search for the child that was later found to be in the presence of the father at a residence in Pickens County. The child was unharmed and had been taken to the residence shortly after the abduction occurred. Pickens County Sheriff’s detectives have conducted an in-depth investigation into the incident throughout the week and as a result, four adults have been arrested and charged with multiple offenses. Detectives have confirmed that all parties to include the mother are acquaintances or in some cases related to one another. All four individuals were arrested in Pickens County without incident and booked into the Pickens County Detention Center just after midnight on Dec. 7, for the charge of kidnapping. Additional charges were filed by detectives and all four subjects are still detained within the Detention Center after having been arraigned by a Pickens County Magistrate. The child was taken into Emergency Protective Custody by the Sheriff’s Office on the night of the incident and has been turned over to the Department of Social Services (DSS) where the child remains pending an investigation by DSS. The four individuals arrested were 39-year-old Stephanie Lynn Hopkins for kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnapping and two counts of assault and battery in the first degree; 37-year-old Steven Keith Trotter for kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnapping and assault and in the first degree; 20-year-old Ethan Chantz Esuary for kidnapping and assault and battery in the first degree; and 40-year-old Bridget Renee Esuary for kidnapping and assault and battery in the first degree. The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office does not anticipate any additional arrests in this case absent the discovery of new information.