COLUMBUS, Ohio — BREAKING UPDATE: Nalah Jackson, the woman accused of kidnapping two 5-month-old, has been arrested and Kason Thomas was found safe shortly after Jackson's arrest.
Previous story below:
The family of twin 5-month-old boys who were abducted from the Short North Monday night said they are upset with how long it took for an AMBER Alert to be issued.
The Columbus Division of Police said Kason and Kyair Thomas, twin brothers, were inside a Honda Accord left running by their mother at a Donatos located at East 1st Avenue and North High Street when the vehicle was stolen. Kyair, was found safe in Dayton early Tuesday morning, but Kason remains missing.
The suspected kidnapper, 24-year-old Nalah Jackson, remains at large.
Police said officers were notified of the missing twins at 9:45 p.m. and were on the scene at Donatos less than 10 minutes later.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol did not send out the AMBER Alert warning to the public until 1:37 a.m.
The grandmother, LaFonda Thomas, said she's upset with how authorities handled the AMBER Alert notification.
"Police refused to put out an AMBER Alert as many times as we asked, we didn't get one until three or four hours after they were missing," Thomas said.
OSHP said the two agencies were communicating to determine which type of alert would be issued (an AMBER Alert or a Missing Endangered Child Alert) and whether the statewide alert met criteria. A decision was made at 12:25 a.m., but notifications were not sent to the public until more than an hour later.
Columbus Deputy Chief Smith Weir said the department would have liked to have the alert out earlier, but officers did the best they could as they were dealing with a "chaotic scene."
"Our investigators considered it a top priority to get the AMBER Alert out and were very adamant that it needed to be the next step of the investigation," Weir said.
There are strict criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts. The child must be under 18 years old, there must be a threat of harm or death to the child and there must be enough information to help lead to the recovery of the child.
Weir said the scene was chaotic because the mother recently purchased the vehicle and the tag was torn, making it hard to determine the make and model in order to send an alert to the public. Police also had to track down the VIN number of the vehicle, which also took time.
Not only did both agencies let precious time slip away, but Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said she did not know about the abduction until the next day.
“There was a lapse in communication. Had I known, we would have had a press conference last night or early this morning. I’m not going to hide, I’m not going to sugar coat, that doesn't mean the team wasn't doing the work,” she said.
Bryant said the lapse in communication did not impact the time it took to issue the AMBER Alert.
Chief Bryant provided the following timeline of the kidnapping and subsequent investigation:
- 9:45 p.m. Monday — Columbus police receive report of stolen vehicle with two 5-month-old boys inside from Donatos at 920 N. High St.
- 9:52 p.m. — Police officers arrive at the scene.
- 10:17 p.m. — A grid-pattern search of the area begins; more than 50 officers take part and the CPD helicopter is dispatched.
- 10:30 p.m. - Neighboring police departments and the Ohio State Highway Patrol are notified and join the search.
- 11 p.m. — Police go to all known former addresses tied to the suspect and visit three Columbus-area homeless camps.
- 11:45 p.m. — Columbus police requests OSHP issue an AMBER Alert.
- 12:05 a.m. Tuesday — Columbus deputy chief notifies OSHP again about the AMBER Alert request.
- 12:30 a.m. — Additional Columbus police detectives and supervisors called in to assist in the search.
- 1:37 a.m. — Statewide AMBER Alert is issued.
- 4:15 a.m. — Columbus police receive call that one of the twins was abandoned at the Dayton airport.
- 5:47 a.m. — Columbus police inform media the Kyair was found safe.
- 6 a.m. — Columbus police detectives leave for Dayton to continue investigation.
- 11:15 a.m. — Huber Heights police inform CPD they possibly have video of the suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Columbus Police Department Special Victims Unit at 614-645-4701.