Photo: Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department/Twitter / Courtesy
two policemen from indianapolis who had spent Saturday searching in vain for a missing kidnapped babyor in a stolen vehicle they decided to stop for lunch and recover from the frustrated search without results.
had been issued an alert in the state of Indiana for the baby Kason Thomass5 months old, and Richard El and Shawn Anderson, the two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers, had spent most of their shift that day searching for the missing baby, according to CNN.
Authorities had found the other baby, his twin Kyair Thomass, but Kasson was still missing.
The FBI offered a $10,000 reward for tips leading to their discovery.
A woman suspected of stealing a black 2010 Honda Accord had been arrested earlier that day, December 22, but the vehicle was still missing. more urgently, baby Kason Thomass had not yet been foundwho was in the car with his twin Kyair Thomass when it was stolen three days earlier in Columbus, Ohio.
“It was time for us to relax because we were disappointed that we couldn’t find it,” the sergeant said. Shawn Anderson of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told CNN affiliate WISH-TV. “And then God opened up the heavens for us and almost took it and put it in our hands.”
There, outside a Papa John’s in the same square where Anderson and Sergeant Richard El had stopped for lunch, was the stolen car. Kason was inside. The five-month-old had been missing for almost three full days and had probably been alone most of the time.
A photo is worth a thousand words.
The IMPD is thankful that Kason Thomas was found earlier this evening.
We would like to thank the IMPD Officers and Detectives who worked to track down the baby and suspect.
We would like to thank community members who helped in locating him pic.twitter.com/5UOvRTiN9W
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) December 23, 2022
“When we found her, she was cold, true, but she was awake, she was breathing, she was moving a little bit,” El said in an interview with WBNS-TV. “She was wide-eyed and she was just trying to take it all in.”
Kason’s family said the baby girl was doing as well as expected under the circumstances, WBNS-TV reported. LaFonda Thomass, the twins’ grandmother, said she was overwhelmed by the discovery.
“This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” LaFonda Thomass said. to WBNS-TV. “I’m so excited. This is a miracle.”
“Hugging her was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my career,” Sgt. Shawn Anderson said in a tweet shared by IMPD. Anderson and Sergeant Richard El were the IMPD officers who located 5-month-old Kason Thomas, IMPD reported in a video shared on Twitter.
“Holding him was one of the best feelings I’ve had in my career,” – IMPD Sgt. Shawn Anderson
Sgt. Anderson and Sgt. Richard El were two of the first IMPD officers to locate 5-month-old Kason Thomas.
Earlier today, they discussed their reaction to finding Kason. pic.twitter.com/kX47dDn3jL
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) December 23, 2022
How was the kidnapping of the babies?
On the night of December 19, Kason and Kyair Thomass stayed inside the moving car while their mother got out for a few seconds to pick up a DoorDash order in Columbus, the Ohio capital. when she came back, the car was gone, it had been stolen with the twins insideaccording to Columbus police.
Kyair was found abandoned near the Dayton International Airport in western Ohio in the early morning hours of December 20, police said. But it would be days before Kason was found in Indianapolis, some 175 miles from where he was taken.
The suspect, Nalah Jackson, 24, awaits extradition to Columbus, where he faces two felony counts of kidnapping and where a warrant for Jackson’s arrest was filed through the Franklin County Courthouse, according to an online filing. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office, where Indianapolis is located, also charged Jackson with a battery of crimes, according to online court records.