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Two missing children rescued from trailer as police arrest babysitter on kidnapping charges
Por James
Publicado el 19 de agosto de 2026
Atlanta police officers rescued two children from a locked trailer, where they were found with a babysitter who has been accused of kidnapping them and keeping them for nearly two days.
After being reported missing on Saturday night, Zola Cooper, 4, and her 11-month-old sister, Norah Cooper, were found Monday afternoon during an intensive search of an apartment complex.
After reviewing cell phone data and various tips from residents, police zeroed in on the trailer. Detective Sherrod Stancil with the Atlanta Police Department told reporters Wednesday that when he got close, he heard what he thought was "a baby cooing."
"Detective Berhalter then proceeded to bang on it a lot louder," Stancil said at a press conference. "Once he had done that, I heard what I knew was the sound of a child crying."
Body camera footage from the Atlanta Police Department shows Norah Cooper, an 11-month-old girl, being rescued from a trailer after she was allegedly kidnapped by Lakesha Brown, 42. Norah's sister, 4-year-old Zola, was also carried out of the trailer by police. (Atlanta Police Department)
CALIFORNIA AUTHORITIES SEARCH FOR 2 CHILDREN ALLEGEDLY ABDUCTED BY FATHER, FEAR FOR THEIR SAFETY
Body camera video released by the Atlanta Police Department showed officers using a cinder block and bolt cutters to break into the trailer, where they discovered the children with 42-year-old Lakesha Brown. Both children were crying as officers entered and carried them to safety.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta, it was 97 degrees Fahrenheit when the officers found the children.
Police said the cluttered trailer had no air conditioning and that the only source of cool air was a box fan.
"We also noticed that there seemed to be a mini fridge and a television. In my opinion, that's clearly where [Brown] was living," Stancil said.
Stancil also said the 11-month-old child's diaper was full when the girls were rescued, adding that it did not "look like there were any restroom facilities" nearby.
Police said both children were "reunited with their mother in good health," police said.
Atlanta police found Lakesha Brown, 42, inside the trailer and arrested her. She was charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children. (Atlanta Police Department)
Brown was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, court records show.
After Brown was arrested, Atlanta police discovered she had an active arrest warrant for failing to appear in court for a separate child kidnapping case in Alabama that involved a newborn baby, People reported.
Brown denied being involved in the August 2021 kidnapping of the 4-day-old child, but authorities said she posted pictures of the boy to her social media.
In the Atlanta case, the girls were reported missing at around 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night by their mother, Elica Redding, police said.
Redding had left the girls with Brown, whom she described as a friend of hers, at around 6 p.m. so she could go out dinner, police said. She called 911 roughly four hours later, explaining that Brown still had not returned the kids.
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"[Brown] told me there was an accident, but she's not answering her phone," Redding told the dispatcher, according to audio first obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta.
Redding said Brown told her that they were taken to a hospital, but when Redding called every hospitals she could, there was no record of her kids being admitted at any of them.
Redding told investigators she first met Brown on social media before the two subsequently met six or seven times in person, Lieutenant Christapher Butler said Wednesday.
Police have said Brown posed as a babysitter in a Facebook group for pregnant mothers.
"It really just looks like the suspect preyed on her," Butler said. "And then she was able to gain her confidence enough to take her children."
Butler said Brown was cooperative with investigators but declined to offer more information about any possible motives since the case is ongoing.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/two-missing-children-rescued-trailer-police-arrest-babysitter-kidnapping-charges