2 Black Girls Allegedly Kidnapped By Babysitter Found Safe

We already know how important it is for parents to pay close attention to who they let watch their children, but certain stories really drive that point home, and a story about two Black sisters who were the subjects of an Amber Alert issued by the  Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) after their babysitter allegedly kidnapped them is definitely one of those stories.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Atlanta police confirmed Monday that 4-year-old Zola Cooper and her sister, 11-month-old Norah Cooper, had been found safe after officers heard a baby crying inside a trailer in the 2000 block of Sylvan Road and found the two children there during a search involving community members and several Atlanta Police Department units.

Also found in that trailer was the woman accused of kidnapping the two girls, their babysitter, Lakesha Brown. The girls’ mother, Elica Redding, said she met Brown about a year ago in an online mom group where Brown advertised free services for expecting mothers. Redding said she left her two girls with Brown on Saturday night, around 10 p.m., but when the babysitter failed to return the children, and Brown reportedly told her they had been in a car accident, at some point, Redding began calling hospitals, which had no record of them being treated there.

Family members of Redding and her girls told Fox 5 that Brown texted that she was taking the girls to Walmart around 6 p.m., but shortly after, she told a family member that she and the children had been involved in some type of crash. According to the family, they then lost contact with her. So, on Sunday, at about 10:30 p.m., Redding called 911 to report what had happened.

So far, authorities have not announced what specific charges Brown is facing, but it has been revealed that this is not the first time she’s been involved in a kidnapping case.

In fact, according to ABC 9, Atlanta police confirmed that investigators learned Brown had been involved in a previous case roughly five years ago in her home state of Alabama, and that information about that case, which was similar to this one, aided their search for Zola and Norah.

From ABC 9:

That previous case appears to match one ABC 33/40 covered in August 2021, when a woman named Lakesha Brown was accused of abducting a 4-day-old infant from Fairfield.

In that case, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Kamarion Deshawn Taylor disappeared from a home in the 600 block of Jerry D. Coleman Street.

Investigators said Brown, then 37, was a family friend who was at the home with the infant, his mother and grandmother. The baby’s mother was not feeling well and went to sleep. When she woke up, authorities said both Kamarion and Brown were gone.

The mother contacted Brown and asked where her baby was. According to investigators, Brown told her Kamarion was still in his playpen, where she said she had left him.

The family then contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

As investigators searched for Kamarion, family members discovered pictures and videos on Brown’s social media accounts showing a baby who appeared to be the missing infant. The family also told investigators Brown had previously posted on social media that she had recently given birth to twin boys.

In that case, Brown had been charged with first-degree kidnapping, despite the fact that when she was initially taken into custody, the missing child was not with her, and she denied having any involvement in his disappearance. The Bessemer District Attorney’s Office said her bond was set at $100,000, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said information it received during the 2021 investigation indicated Brown may have attempted similar crimes in the past. It’s unclear what those alleged attempts were, or whether she was ever convicted of the Alabama kidnapping charge.

Be safe out there, y’all, and keep your kids safe. You just never know what predators are out there waiting for their next victim.

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