Katie 
Melody Bannister with her husband, William Joseph Bannister and children. [Image credit: Change.org petition]
Yesterday Melody Bannister, who turned 35 on Sunday, was scheduled to appear in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for a hearing concerning charges of filing a false report, violation of a custody order, and four counts of parental abduction. The hearing was reportedly closed.
News out of Virginia indicates that she accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child abduction and one of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The other charges against her were reportedly either dropped or reduced during the closed hearing.
Melody had been in custody since February when she was arrested in Indiana. She was returned to Stafford County, Virginia May 29th and remained in the Rappahannock Regional Jail until yesterday afternoon when she was finally released. The inmate search for the jail was down most of the day, and still appears offline, but a VINE search for Virginia returns no results for a name search confirming her release.
Any additional conditions of the plea deal have not been disclosed.
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