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.
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An AMBER Alert remains in place for a 5-month-old boy who went missing Monday evening.
Kason and Kyair Thomas were kidnapped from the Short North district. Police said the twin boys were inside a 2010 Honda Accord left running by their mother at a Donatos Pizza located at East 1st Avenue and North High Street when the vehicle was stolen. Kyair was found safe at the Dayton International Airport early Tuesday morning. Kason is still missing.
The woman accused of taking them, 24-year-old Nalah Jackson, has been charged and a warrant is out for her arrest.
In every case of a missing child, law enforcement must make the decision whether or not the case qualifies for an AMBER Alert.
An AMBER Alert can only be issued for cases that meet the following criteria:
- A confirmed abduction of a child under 18-years-old.
- The child is believed to be at risk of bodily harm or death.
- There is enough descriptive information about the child and abductor to be released to the public.
- The child is not a runaway.
"In a best-case scenario, we shoot to have an AMBER Alert activated within an hour, give or take," said Captain Ron Raines with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Raines said OSHP was notified about the incident at 11:41 p.m. on Monday.
"The final conversation between the CPD Sergeant and our Watch Desk Commander was initiated at 12:16 a.m., and they discussed the criteria, the regions to be activated, and they developed additional information that we needed to activate that alert," he explained.
An AMBER Alert was sent to the public at 1:37 a.m. on Tuesday. So what happened in those two hours?
OHSP said at 12:25 a.m. that it started the amber alert process. Eight minutes later, they notified the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation about the alert. At 12:54 a.m., they contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. ODOT sign boards were turned on at 1:16 a.m. Then finally, the AMBER Alert was issued.
There are no nationwide alerts, only state, regional, and local alerts, but they can expand to multiple states. In the case of baby Kason, the five states surrounding Ohio have only issued a BOLO alert.
"There was no belief on behalf of the family or the Columbus Police Department that they would be traveling to one of those states. There were no known contacts in any of those states; each of those states denied or declined to do an AMBER alert activation in their state," said Captain Raines.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Columbus Police Department Special Victims Unit at 614-645-4701.