Crime & Justice

Second Ohio Infant Found Safe After Police Arrest Chief Kidnapping Suspect

HOLIDAY MIRACLE

Nalah Jackson, 24, was taken into custody by police in Indianapolis around 2 p.m. Thursday.

FkcaVAVVQAAs4_N_snzuek
Columbus Police Department

Authorities have located the missing five-month-old infant kidnapped in Ohio this week—announcing Thursday night that he is safe and “in good health” despite the three-day ordeal.

Earlier in the day police arrested the chief suspect, 24-year-old Nalah Jackson, in Indianapolis, according to Fox 19—later finding the baby nearby in an abandoned car. He was wearing the same clothes he was abducted in.

Kason Thomass had been missing for several days after he and his twin brother, Kyair, who also found unhurt, were kidnapped late Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Both boys were in a vehicle their mother was using to make DoorDash deliveries when the car was stolen after she ran inside an Ohio pizza restaurant. Kyair was found the next morning abandoned in a carseat in the bitter cold of a parking lot at the Dayton International Airport.

The fact that the alleged abductor returned one baby but kept the other initially alarmed police, who issued a series of worrying statements pleading for his safe return.

“That’s a troubling aspect of this case. [I’m] perplexed as to why that may be,” Columbus Deputy Chief Smith Weir said earlier this week.

“You can return him to any safe location. Fire department, hospital, shopping center, any public place where someone will find the baby. We are begging you. Please return Kason,” Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant added at a Wednesday press conference.

The twins’ mother, Wilhelmina Barnett, also spent days publicly pleading with the Jackson to return her son or share his whereabouts.

“I’m not mad at you, I know you got problems and are mentally ill,” Barnett said Wednesday, according to The Columbus Dispatch. “Bring him home. I just want my baby.”

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.