COLUMBUS, Ohio – Police on Tuesday were searching for a 14-month-old Maryland boy after they say his mother admitted she left him on the front porch of a stranger’s home in Columbus days ago.

A missing-child alert said Cameron Beckford’s mother abandoned him Friday night and was in custody. He was wearing a puffy black coat, grey pants, black and red boots and a grey elephant hat. Police say he’s black with brown eyes and a Mohawk hairstyle.

Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Columbus police spokesman, said Tuesday that officers on foot were searching near a creek along with a dive team and helicopter. He wouldn’t say what evidence, if any, led officers to the creek, which is about 2 1/2 miles from the home where the mother said she left the child on the city’s far east side.

Police in Frederick, Maryland, said the father of Cameron and the boy’s 6-year-old sister, Cheyenne, called police on Sunday and reported that the children’s mother had taken them to an unknown location in Columbus earlier this month. Based on the father’s concerns, missing persons reports were issued.

A Frederick detective located a possible address where the mother may have been visiting. During the course of the investigation, Columbus police were able to locate Cheyenne and the mother, police said.

Columbus police said the mother told the children’s father that she couldn’t care for Cameron and that she left him on a front porch in a housing development.

The mother’s name hasn’t been released. She and a man she was with are in custody. Police say she had legal custody of both children.