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Three-year-old Jalen Mattison and his sister, 1-year-old Amari Mattison.
Two young children kidnapped by a man who offered to help when the family car broke down in the middle of the night are safe, but Georgia authorities won't return them to their mother just yet.
Jalen Mattison, 3, and his one-year-old sister, Amari, were in the car with their mom when it became disabled on the side of an Atlanta-area interstate before 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Their mother told police a stranger stopped to help as she was calling a tow truck, but when she came back, she discovered he had driven off with the children in his dark green Jeep Cherokee.
The abduction set off a statewide alert until the kids were returned nearly 12 hours later by two unidentified women who said the suspect, a friend who they knew by nickname only, had dropped the kids off with them to "babysit," a DeKalb County police spokesperson told msnbc.com on Thursday.
"Shortly before 1:00 [Wednesday afternoon], the individuals that the man had dropped the kids off with became aware that they had been babysitting" abducted kids when they saw their photos on the news, DeKalb Police Spokeswoman Mekka Parish told msnbc.com. "They dropped them off at a magistrate court and notified a uniformed officer that they were in possession of the kids."
The kids weren't harmed, and the women won't be charged with a crime, she said.
But Parish told msnbc.com that there are "questions" about the mother's ability to care for her kids, and the Division of Families and Children Services was called in to investigate. The mother will not be allowed to see her children until the agency grants her permission.
News reports on Wednesday listed the mother as Ashley Mattison, 24, with no fixed address. She reportedly had been moving from hotel to hotel with the children.
Previous report: Ga. cops: 2 children reported missing found safe
There was no reason to doubt mother's story of the abduction, Parish said, and the mother faces no criminal charges related to the kidnapping. But "the DFACS investigation is something completely separate," and the mother could face charges related to her care of the children.
The suspect in the kidnapping has not been identified or caught yet, Parish told msnbc.com.
WSB.com, a Georgia NBC affiliate, reported surveillance cameras from a gas station on Interstate-20 in DeKalb County early Wednesday morning showed a man matching the suspect's description walking to a dark green Jeep Cherokee, and then driving off.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
Leave a Comment:
Bull----
glad they did the right thing by the kids but do you seriously believe they don't know ANYTHING about this guy? I know all my friends names don't you? as well as where they work, live, hang out, etc. would you "babysit" for someone who's name you didn't even know? like i said before.......B.S.
Man, thankfully the kids are aliveand safe. BUT this still smells very fishy and is making very little sense. I want to see how this all pans out in the end.
There are a lot of people who are homeless right now. I sure hope that having a fixed address doesn't become the determination as to whether CPS lets you keep your kids. She hasn't been charged with anything but they won't let her even see them? Then, doesn't that fall under the category of kidnapping?
Betty-301392,no that is big brother(the state)that knows what is best.Roll eyes
No one is ever happy with CPS, if they give the kids back they are wrong, if they don't give the kids back they are wrong, if they investigate allegations of abuse they are harrassing someone, if they fail to investigate they are lazy and not earning their paycheck.
We do not know the whole story; MSNBC is not known for good reporting, only giving enough details to stir the pot. For all we know the mother has some other issue that called her parenting ability into doubt. Let CPS do their job and discover what is best for the children and their mother, take the appropriate action and see what happens. If they just gave the kids back and they turned up dead or injured next week everyone would be up in arms about it so...
They have no doubt the kids were kidnapped but the mom can't have them back - however a murderer and woman who admitted to molesting her kids will be getting custody back of the kids... What's wrong with this system???
If nothing else, allow her to have supervised visits with her kids. First she is homeless, her car breads down, then her kids are kidnapped by someone she thought was going to help. By all means protect the kids, but try to help find a safe place so that kids and mother can be together.