The grandmother of 8-month-old Xavier Billings, the child that authorities issued a statewide endangered child alert for on Friday, spoke exclusively to News Channel 5 about how drugs have torn her family apart and ruined her son's life.
According to authorities, 29-year-old Andrew Billings was in a car accident with his wife Adriana Billings with Xavier in the back. The couple fled the scene with Xavier, and authorities discovered a meth lab in the back seat next to where Xavier was sitting.
Authorities later issued the endangered child alert, and the couple and Xavier were found on Friday in Michigan.
"They held him, they loved him, there was no reason to think that they would have done anything to have caused any harm," Hattie Dishman Manning, grandmother of Xavier Billings, said.
Manning said she was not aware that the couple was involved in drugs at the time, but knowing that now, she said they brought this upon themselves.
"They made their choice," Manning said. "They could have lived a different life. I don't understand how a drug can take a loving parent and make them to where they don't understand what they're doing."
Manning hopes that other families will be aware of the hazards drugs create so they will never have to experience what Manning and her family are experiencing right now.
Manning is also planning to work with the state to adopt Xavier, and the unborn baby girl that Adriana is carrying currently, due in April.
