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 grandmother of a missing 5-month-old baby made a tearful plea directly to the baby’s alleged kidnapper on Wednesday.
Nalah Jackson is accused of stealing a car with twin boys inside in the Short North area of Columbus Monday night. One twin, Kyair, was dropped off outside the Dayton International Airport Tuesday. But Kason was still missing as of Wednesday evening.
“I just want to say to Nalah, I don’t know you, you don’t know me,” LaFonda Thomas said. “We are both mothers. If you look at him and you see anything, see a precious child that’s longing for his mother. Your children long for you. He is longing for his mother. We ask you, we ask you, we beg you, please, please, please do the right thing. Please do the right thing, and just bring my baby home. We won’t ask no questions. We don’t want to touch you. We don’t care nothing about you. We want Kason. He is our main purpose. He is our main focus. He is why we are even motivated to move. You don’t motivate me. My grandson motivates me. Bring my grandson home.”
The vigil was held outside the Donatos where the car was stolen, but organizers were clear they did not want to call the event a prayer vigil, saying those are designed to remember someone who has died. They instead wanted to call the gathering a prayer victory.
And they wanted the focus to be on the safe return of baby Kason rather than the actions of his mother that night. The mother was working as a DoorDash delivery driver that night and had run inside to pick up an order, leaving her twins outside in the car.
“Our focus right here this morning should be praying for the return of this baby to come back to his family,” said Stu Hampton, a community leader in Linden. “That’s it, that’s all. You can say what the mama should’ve did, could’ve did, should’ve done, but right now, it’s all in God’s hands.”
Assistant Columbus Police Chief Lashanna Potts also attended the vigil and said officers and detectives were working around the clock to try to find Kason. 10TV asked if she had hope the baby was still okay.
“I don’t believe in hope, I believe in faith,” she said. “And so, for me, this baby is alive, this baby is well, and we’re going to bring this baby home.”
A few hours later, people gathered at the Linden Community Center to offer up prayers and song. Londale Towns Sr. organized the event and welcomed several people to speak.
One of those speakers was Amy Hall, a mother of two grown children who said she sympathized with the twins’ mother.
“I know her pain just being a mom,” she said. “So what I want to ask the community today is to please not shame this lady. I’m sure she’s doing enough of that on her own. We all need to come together, stick together, band together, to make sure this baby comes home. Whatever you can do, whether it’s call some people, or actually put your boots on the ground, do it today, do it for the baby who deserves it, because he deserves all the love, all the attention, and all the prayer that he can get, and so does his mother today.”