Girl, 5, Found Safe After Abduction In University Park
Updated 03/30/2015 - 1:27 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 5-year-old girl has been found safe, after she was abducted from University Park late Sunday night, prompting an AMBER Alert.
Two people took Samiah Lomax from her grandmother's home in University Park shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday, according to Illinois State Police. It started with a home invasion, escalated into a physical fight, and ended with Samiah being abducted.
An AMBER Alert was issued for Samiah, but around 4:40 a.m., police said the girl had been found safe in the West Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, and the AMBER Alert was canceled.
"What happened was, one of our trustees, Trustee Roudez, started an anonymous tip line a couple months ago, and we actually had citizens calling that, as well as 911, and that was very helpful," University Park Police Chief Ed Bradley.
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Officers took Samiah to Area South headquarters on the Far South Side, before reuniting her with her grandmother.
Police said the girl's mother was arrested. Bradley said Samiah's grandmother has legal custody, after Samiah's mother made some bad decisions, resulting in her losing custody of her daughter.
"Unfortunately, the grandmother has custody of her child, because of events. She has total custody through DCFS," Bradley said. "The whole thing is under investigation, but at this point, for whatever reason, the mother felt like she wanted her child."
Samiah's grandmother, Selena Johnson, said her daughter "was under a lot of stress."
"She just wanted to see her daughter, and she took her. She's been under a lot of stress lately," she said.
Charges against Samiah's mother were pending Monday morning in Will County. A second woman who was with Samiah's mother at the time of the abduction has not been arrested, but police said they know where to find her.
