2 Abducted Kansas Girls Found Near Texas-Oklahoma Border, Suspect In Custody
MISSION, Kan. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Authorities near the Texas-Oklahoma border found two girls who were abducted from a Kansas home where two boys were discovered dead Saturday, and a suspect is in custody.
The Kansas Amber Alert System said about 7 p.m. on Twitter that the girls were found by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol near Erick, Oklahoma.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation earlier identified the girls as 3-year-old Aven Jackson and 7-year-old Nora Jackson. An Amber Alert said the suspect in the abduction is the girls' father, 40-year-old Donny Jackson.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a port of entry officer spotted the suspect's vehicle on I-40 and that Donny Jackson was taken into custody.
Leavenworth County Emergency Management said in a Facebook post that Jackson also is a person of interest in the homicides.
Authorities began investigating around 1:15 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from an adult who discovered the homicide scene at the home where Jackson lived when one of the children didn't show up for a soccer game, Maj. James Sherley, of the Leavenworth County Sheriff's Department, said in a news briefing.
Less than an hour before the discovery was made, the Kansas Highway Patrol made an unrelated car stop on the suspect's vehicle on U.S. 169 near the Oklahoma border. The stop was for a traffic infraction, Sherley said. The abducted children were in the vehicle, according to an update posted on the KBI website.
"In a case like this, of course, it's difficult for a family, for a community and for law enforcement as well. Any time a child's involved in a crime, it amps up the feelings and regards to you know, all of our deputies are family members or parents themselves, so when something like this transpires, it's difficult on the first responders, the family and the community at large," Sherley told reporters.
The 2 young girls in the amber alert out of Kansas have been found safe. One of our Port of Entry officers spotted the vehicle on I-40 in Beckham County and stopped it. Troopers and Beckham County deputies assisted taking 40 year old Donny Jackson into custody. pic.twitter.com/mmZgYsMTmX
— OK Highway Patrol/DPS (@OHPDPS) October 25, 2020
The names of the slain boys weren't immediately released. Sherley said he believed the boys were 11 and 14 and were the girls' siblings.
Sherley said "there had been some back and forth with family" but that the motive wasn't clear. He added: "At this time investigators are trying to determine what went on with the family dynamic that got us to this point."
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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