Indianapolis Police said a missing 5-month-old boy was found alive in a vehicle outside a pizza restaurant on Thursday, hours after the arrest of the woman suspected of stealing the car with the boy and his twin inside in Ohio.
Thomas was not with 24-year-old suspect Nalah Jackson at the time when she was taken into custody by Indianapolis Metro Police at around 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Following her arrest, Bryant said police were relieved to have located Jackson and vowed that law enforcement would “not stop searching” until Kason was found.
Police issued alerts for the public to look out for a black Honda Accord with damage on the left side. The vehicle was later found at the Papa John’s in Indianapolis.
“The 5-month-old boy is in good health [and is] being transported to a hospital to be checked out,” Columbus police announced on Twitter.
The alleged kidnapping and car theft happened on Monday in the Short North Arts District area of Columbus. Kason and Kyair Thomas were in the back of their mother’s Honda Accord outside a Donatos Pizza restaurant while their mother, who left the car running, went inside to collect a DoorDash order.
Columbus police said Kyair was found abandoned about an hour away near Dayton International Airport on Tuesday.
Local and state authorities carried out a frantic search for Kason. Authorities issued an in-state amber alert in Ohio and be-on-the-lookout alerts for law enforcement in the five states surrounding Ohio.
“Our officers, detectives, sergeants, and commanders have been working around the clock since Kyair and Kason went missing late Monday night,” Bryant told reporters after Jackson was arrested but before Kason was found.
The FBI had offered a $10,000 reward for Kason’s safe return.
Columbus Police said they followed up on over 36 tips from people in central Ohio and throughout the state, conducting interviews and gathering video footage in the 12 hours leading up to Jackson’s arrest.
Members of the public called a police hotline on Thursday morning, believing they had spotted the suspect in Indianapolis, police said. During the phone call with a detective, the witnesses, who had the suspect in sight, thought “it became more of an emergency situation,” according to police.
The detective implored the witnesses to call 911 in Indiana, which led to the suspect’s arrest.
