Woman accused in death of son in Arizona pleads not guilty

BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) - A woman accused in the disappearance and death of her 10-year-old adopted son in a Phoenix suburb has pleaded not guilty in the case and is facing a July 6 trial, according to authorities.

Buckeye police said 54-year-old Crystal Wilson appeared in court briefly Friday with her lawyer. She entered a plea and a judge scheduled a pre-trial conference for April 25.

Wilson is facing one count of abandoning or concealing a body. She was arrested in December in Gainesville, Georgia, and recently extradited to Maricopa County.

Jesse Wilson’s body was found in 2018 a few miles from his home. Police said Crystal Wilson had moved a few weeks before her son’s remains were discovered and had been living the past few years in Georgia.

She told police in July 2016 that her son had run away from their home after she put him to bed for the night. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies unsuccessfully searched for months for the boy.

His skeletal remains were found in March 2018 on the side of a road about six miles (9.6 kilometers) from his home. The county medical examiner’s office declared the cause of death as undetermined.

In November 2020, Buckeye police reassigned the case to a new investigator who gathered more evidence and reexamined old leads that led to an indictment last December.

Police said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Crystal Wilson with a homicide, but she was the main person of interest in the case all along.