Four Oaks — Rosnah Thomason returned home on Tuesday for the first time since falsely reporting to police Sunday that her 3-year-old son had disappeared from a Smithfield flea market.

A pickup truck Thomason said she drove Sunday to the Brightleaf Flea Market on U.S. 301 could be seen parked behind her home on Go Cart Road. Neighbors said Thomason has often parked the truck there in recent months to hide it from her brother, who had reportedly been searching for his sister since last August.

Thomason's brother had hoped to see her wed to a man he chose for her to marry, said Carolyn Johnson, a neighbor from whom Thomason and her son's father rented their home. But, Johnson said, Thomason seemed to have been taken aback by her brother's efforts. Thomason is said to have filed a restraining order against her brother in Iowa, where she lived with her son, Siraj Munir Davenport, before moving to North Carolina.

Thomason lives in her Four Oaks home with David Davenport, a zoologist she met while attending school in another state, Johnson said. Davenport was in Vietnam on a work-related assignment earlier this week when he was notified that his son had been reported missing.

Police in Smithfield confirmed on Tuesday that Siraj Davenport is safe and outside the country. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing his whereabouts; meanwhile, Johnson said she knows that the boy can't be with his father. She said David Davenport left the United States on Thursday, three days before Siraj disappeared.

"The last time I saw him [Siraj] was Thursday evening when he went outside with his mother to check the mail," she said. "I saw him Thursday, but didn't see him again on Friday."

Smithfield Police Chief Steve Gillikin would not say where authorities suspect the child might be, but noted that he is with a relative.

Johnson said she told investigators that Thomason left home Friday night in the pickup and didn't return home until the following night. She wondered where Thomason might have traveled in the time she was away.

"The whole thing is just very bizarre," Johnson said.

"He's just the sweetest little thing," she added, referring to Siraj, who also went by "Raji". "From the first time I ever saw him, I just fell in love. I'm just so glad he's safe."

Gillikin said Tuesday it was too early to tell whether Thomason or anyone else connected to the case might face criminal charges. He did not offer a possible motive for Thomason's false police report.