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Suspicious Aunt Reports Nephew Missing Hours Before His Mother Is Released From Prison

Cat Leigh
True Crime by Cat Leigh
4 min readNov 11, 2024

Aaron Cody Stepp, a 3-year-old under the care of his aunt, was reported missing months after anyone had seen him.

Photo by Alexandra Gold on Unsplash

Aaron Cody Stepp, who went by his middle name, was a 3-year-old boy living with his aunt and grandmother in Columbus, Ohio. His mother, Robyn Stepp, was in prison for theft and had a history of drug abuse and prostitution. As a result, Cody had been in the custody of his aunt, Mickey Stepp, since he was 4 months old and was not allowed to speak to his mother.

On March 11, 1997, Mickey reported the little boy missing to the authorities. She claimed she had last seen Cody playing alone in the backyard adjacent to their home on Hosack Street. Mickey had gone to the corner store to buy a bag of potato chips, and when she returned, he was gone.

It didn’t take long for investigators to suspect the aunt was lying as they uncovered evidence Cody had been missing for much longer. Not only had family members and neighbors not seen the child for nearly a year, but there were no toys, clothing, or pictures of Cody at his aunt and grandmother’s home.

Police later realized Mickey had used another child to impersonate her nephew during a doctor’s appointment. According to a Court of Appeals document, “a nurse who gave…

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