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FARMINGTON — A child abandonment case has been dismissed for a mother and her boyfriend accused of making the woman's teenage son walk home in the cold.
According to police, Jyna Christine Patrick, 35, got into an argument with her 13-year-old son while driving through Centerville on Dec. 28, 2015. The driver, Aaron Brent Petersen, 38, told the boy to walk the remaining 5 miles home, court documents state.
The boy was found by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on an I-15 on-ramp walking north, away from his Woods Cross home, according to Centerville police.
Patrick and Petersen were charged in March with child abandonment, a third-degree felony. The case against Petersen was scheduled to go to trial this week. It was dismissed with prejudice in August, meaning the case cannot be filed again.
The charge against Patrick was dismissed in July without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.
