Woman Charged With Kidnapping After Grabbing Boy At O'Hare
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman has been charged with kidnapping after she grabbed a two-year-old boy at O'Hare International Airport and tried to run away with him Tuesday afternoon.
The boy was standing in the Lower Terminal 3 baggage area with his mother about 4:45 p.m. when Olachi Etoh, 24, "forcibly picked up the boy" and tried to run away down an escalator, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
The mother intervened and was able to get the boy back "within moments," police said.
Etoh, of the 3400 block of North Halsted, was subsequently arrested and charged with a felony count of aggravated kidnapping and a misdemeanor count of battery, police said.
She is expected to appear in bond court Wednesday, according to police.
Etoh's family, in Maryland, told WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser that she has mental issues, lost her job here and has been off her medication and missing for a week.
Her mother, Bridgett Etoh, says she came to Chicago last week, trying to find her daughter and trying to file a missing persons report.
She says police "sent me through hell," and she ticked off a list of the CPD officers she says she pleaded with to help her.
She told police at the time that her daughter was a danger to herself and others but police would not take the missing persons report.
She says she talked to police on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and was planning on trying again this morning when a reporter told her about her daughter's arrest.
She's now planning to return to try to get her daughter back.
A Chicago police spokesman said the department will look into Etoh's allegations.