2 women arrested in false kidnapping report of 5-year-old
2 women arrested in false kidnapping report of 5-year-old
Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAYSat, April 4, 2026 at 6:23 PM UTC
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Two women are facing misdemeanor charges after police said they reported a made-up kidnapping of a 5-year-old child that never existed.
According to court records obtained by USA TODAY, a 31-year-old woman called 911 on March 30 and reported that her 2020 Jeep Renegade was stolen and a child was inside the vehicle. She told the dispatcher that the child was a 5-year-old girl "wearing blue jeans and a flower power shirt," court documents state.
St Louis County police issued an Amber Alert for the girl, subsequently using "significant police resources" in an effort to find the stolen vehicle and missing child.
Police interviewed the other accused woman, 29, who told them that she was the girl's temporary guardian, according to court documents. She also told police that she and her girlfriend, the 31-year-old woman, lived with the child.
When revisiting the day of the "kidnapping," the 29-year-old woman told police that she placed the child in the Jeep's backseat and went back into her apartment "for a short time." It wasn't until her girlfriend went outside that they realized that their car and the child were gone.
Before calling 911, the 29-year-old said she took her girlfriend to work in a separate car and called her bank to see if they could locate the stolen Jeep using GPS, since the bank was financing the vehicle.
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St. Louis County police find stolen vehicle, no child in sight
Police would eventually find the stolen vehicle about a mile away from the women's apartment. An extensive search for the girl followed, with police utilizing helicopter surveillance, drone surveillance and K9 search teams, according to court records.
About five hours after the initial 911 call, both women confessed to police that the car was actually stolen, but that they lied about there being a missing child, the court documents say. The lies, police said, could have led to a "violent confrontation" because they had the entire St. Louis area looking for the stolen vehicle and the missing girl.
In a Facebook post about the situation on March 30, police said, "detectives have been able to confirm that there was never an abducted child."
Police added, "While we are extremely grateful that there is no child in danger, we want to be very clear - we will use all available resources to ensure our community members, especially the most vulnerable among us, are safe."
Now, both women face making false report charges, while the 29-year-old is facing an additional count of misuse of 911. They both were given $10,000 bonds, according to court records.
Neither woman has a defense attorney listed as of April 4, court records show.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 women arrested in false kidnapping report of 5-year-old
Source: “AOL Breaking”
