A babysitter befriended a mom then vanished with her two children. It wasn’t the first time, police say

Elica Redding had just given birth to her second child and joined a Facebook group offering support for pregnant women and mothers.

Over the course of a year, Redding became friends with Lakesha Brown, who offered her free services and a support system to expecting mothers. In that time, Redding said Brown had gained her trust, and they started to spend time together in person.

“The first time she reached out, I brushed it to the side, and the second time I just let her do my hair, and after that we started talking and being friends,” Redding told CNN affiliate WUPA .

Redding trusted Brown enough to let her babysit her two children, 4-year-old Zola and 11-month-old Norah.

But when Redding went to pick up her children from Brown’s care on August 15, the woman and Redding’s children were nowhere to be found.

Sarah Baker/National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Bethany Markowski vanished 25 years ago. After decades of grieving, her mother still hasn’t given up hope

What ensued was a two-day search for her children, who were eventually found in a locked tow trailer without windows, along with Brown.

Brown has since been charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of child cruelty, according to the arrest warrant and her jail record. CNN has reached out to Brown’s attorney but has not heard back.

Redding said she and Brown spent time together at Redding’s home on August 14 and Redding agreed to let Brown babysit her children and take them out the next day, according to the arrest warrant. Redding told police Brown said she would take the children to Walmart. When Redding called to check on her children throughout the day, Brown said everything was OK and even sent a picture of the children to Redding, as heard in Redding’s 911 call.

That evening, Redding and Brown agreed to meet at Redding’s grandmother’s house to drop off the children. But when it came time, neither Brown nor the children showed up. Redding called and texted multiple times, each time met with an excuse of running late from Brown, according to the arrest warrant.

In Redding’s final demand for Brown to return her children, Brown stated they had been in a car accident and Redding’s children were with the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services, according to the arrest warrant. After that, Brown went silent, not answering any of Redding’s phone calls or text messages.

Redding contacted authorities the next day and detectives determined her children were not in any area hospitals or with DFCS, according to the arrest warrant.

In the months Redding had known Brown, she saw no signs that she would do something like this, she told WUPA.

“She put on a fake front, and it wasn’t her real heart. She was playing me the whole time. That’s how I feel,” Redding said.

Using cellphone pinging technology, the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI tracked Brown’s cellphone to an apartment complex in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood. A person at the complex told police he had seen Brown near a white tow trailer in the parking lot of the complex, according to police.

When authorities approached the trailer and banged on the back and side doors, Investigator Sherrod Stancil said he heard the sound of a baby crying.

Atlanta Police Department

“At that point in time, given the situation, one of the hottest days of the year, that it was indeed an active kidnapping, we have children away from their mother, we recognized that we needed to get inside and we needed to rescue those children,” Stancil said at an August 19 news conference.

In body camera footage from the rescue, officers can be seen cutting the bolt on the back door of the trailer, revealing the two children and Brown sitting among piles of blankets. The trailer, which police believe Brown was living in, had no air conditioning and only an overhead ventilation system and a box fan. Police said temperatures that day reached up to 97 degrees and the trailer was not suitable to live in.

When his daughter was abducted at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, this dad used parental controls to find her

Police officers said during the news conference finding the children was an emotional moment for them all, especially as fathers and uncles themselves.

“Once we saw those kids were in there and they got out safely, it was a weight off our shoulders,” Investigator Lukasz Sajdak said. “That was the ultimate goal, was the safety of those kids.”

After Brown was interviewed and taken into custody, police say she admitted the children were under her care and that she should have returned them to their mother, but she could not provide a logical reason as to why she did not, according to the arrest warrant.

Brown is in custody at the Fulton County Jail being held without bond. Her next court date is September 10.

“I thought it was just going to be a day out. I trusted her, and she broke that trust,” Redding told CNN affiliate WSB .

Authorities say this is not the first time Brown has attempted to kidnap a child, and she did it under an “identical” social media ruse, by posing as a babysitter and gaining the “trust of unsuspecting mothers,” according to the arrest warrant. Atlanta police discovered an active warrant for her arrest in another state.

In August 2021, Brown allegedly befriended a woman and her family and then disappeared with their 4-day-old baby in Fairfield, Alabama, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The mother, Brionna Washington, shared her story with CNN affiliate WVTM.

During the investigation, Washington and her family pointed out videos and photos of Brown’s social media accounts that depicted a baby that looked like their newborn, the sheriff’s office said. The family also told deputies Brown had past social posts with claims that she had recently given birth to twin boys.

When Brown was taken into custody, Washington’s baby was not with her and she denied involvement in the abduction, the sheriff’s office said. A few hours later, authorities were led to a home in Lipscomb, where they found the missing newborn. A warrant for first-degree kidnapping was issued, and Brown’s bond was set at $100,000.

In October 2021, Brown posted bond, according to a court document. Washington did not know Brown had been released until she saw her in public about a year ago, she told WVTM. She also said Jefferson County did not notify her of Brown’s release.

He reached to grab a toddler he said he thought was falling. Then he spent weeks in jail before the case was thrown out

Brown wasn’t indicted until last year due to an overwhelming backlog of cases after the Covid-19 pandemic, Lynneice Washington, Jefferson County district attorney for the Bessemer Cutoff Division, said.

Brown’s case was presented to the grand jury in February 2025, and then she failed to appear on her next court date, Lynneice Washington said.

“My heart goes out to both of the moms in which Ms. Brown befriended,” Lynneice Washington said. “The best result that came out of both cases in Alabama as well as Georgia is that those children were found alive and they were returned back to their parents.”

Back in Georgia, Brown is also facing a misdemeanor obstruction charge in Paulding County for lying and hindering an investigation, Paulding County Sheriff Ashley Henson told CNN affiliate WSB . The charge stems from a case where Brown apparently faked a pregnancy, the sheriff said.

Fulton County Sheriff's office

In August 2025, officers received a call from a woman who was concerned about the health of her brother’s newborn baby, according to the sheriff’s report. Her brother said he had received a photo of his newborn, and the baby did not look alive. She also sent deputies screen shots and photos of Brown appearing to be pregnant and talking about having a baby girl.

When deputies arrived at Brown’s home, she stated there was no newborn baby in the house besides a 6-month-old, according to the sheriff’s report. Deputies were allowed into Brown’s home and ultimately were not able to find a newborn baby.

Brandon Dill/The Washington Post/TGetty Images

Memphis man charged with attempted kidnapping after allegedly trespassing at mayor’s home

“We were actually able to determine that she used what appeared to be a doll to simulate an actual child,” Henson told WSB.

“It’s astonishing that someone would even do that to try and extort money from people by saying, ‘Hey, I’m pregnant,’ and showing images and things that would lead an individual to believe that she was, in fact, pregnant,” Henson told WUPA.

The Atlanta Police Department is warning families to be cautious of who they allow to babysit their children and advises people to stick to family members or accredited businesses.

“We understand it gets stressful with kids, especially young kids. If you’re a single parent, it can be hard at times, but there are resources out there,” Lt. Christapher Butler, Atlanta Police Department’s Homicide Unit commander, said.

The two mothers, Brionna Washington and Redding, have since connected, bonding over the similar experience they both faced, Washington told CNN affiliate WVTM .

“This time, they don’t need to let her out,” Washington said. “Because there ain’t no way y’all keep letting her out and she keep doing the same thing. Like it’s going to be a constant thing, she’s going to keep doing it.”

艾丽卡·雷丁刚刚生下第二个孩子，并加入了一个为孕妇和母亲提供支持的 Facebook 群组。

在一年多的时间里，雷丁与莱克莎·布朗成为了朋友。布朗为准妈妈们提供免费服务和支持。雷丁说，在那段时间里，布朗赢得了她的信任，她们开始见面交流。

“她第一次主动联系我时，我把头发拨到一边；第二次我就让她帮我梳头，之后我们就开始聊天，成了朋友，”雷丁告诉 CNN 附属电视台 WUPA。

雷丁非常信任布朗，让她照看自己的两个孩子，4 岁的佐拉和 11 个月大的诺拉。

但当雷丁于 8 月 15 日去布朗家接孩子时，却发现布朗和雷丁的孩子们都不见了。

莎拉·贝克/全国失踪和受虐儿童中心

贝瑟妮·马尔科夫斯基失踪已25年。几十年来，她的母亲一直沉浸在悲痛之中，但至今仍未放弃希望。

接下来两天，人们一直在寻找她的孩子，最终在一辆没有窗户的锁着的拖车里找到了他们，布朗也在其中。

根据逮捕令及布朗的监狱记录，她已被指控两项绑架罪和两项虐待儿童罪。CNN已联系布朗的律师，但尚未收到回复。

据逮捕令显示，雷丁称她和布朗于8月14日在她家中共度时光，雷丁同意让布朗照看她的孩子，并在第二天带他们外出。雷丁告诉警方，布朗表示会带孩子们去沃尔玛。雷丁在当天多次打电话询问孩子的情况，布朗都说一切正常，甚至还给雷丁发了一张孩子的照片，这些内容在雷丁的911报警电话录音中可以听到。

当晚，雷丁和布朗约定在雷丁祖母家见面，送孩子们过去。但到了约定时间，布朗和孩子们都没出现。据逮捕令显示，雷丁多次打电话和发短信，布朗每次都以迟到为由搪塞。

据逮捕令显示，在雷丁最后一次要求布朗归还孩子时，布朗声称孩子们出了车祸，目前雷丁的孩子由佐治亚州家庭与儿童服务部照管。此后，布朗便杳无音信，既不接雷丁的电话，也不回复短信。

根据逮捕令，雷丁第二天联系了当局，侦探们确定她的孩子不在任何地区的医院或儿童家庭服务部 (DFCS) 处。

雷丁告诉 WUPA，在她认识布朗的几个月里，她没有看到任何迹象表明布朗会做出这样的事情。

“她装出一副虚伪的样子，那不是她的真心。她一直在耍我。我就是这么觉得的，”雷丁说道。

亚特兰大警察局、佐治亚州调查局和联邦调查局利用手机定位技术，追踪到布朗的手机位于锡尔万山社区的一处公寓楼内。据警方称，公寓楼内的一名住户告诉警方，他看到布朗出现在公寓楼停车场的一辆白色拖车附近。

当执法人员靠近拖车并敲击后门和侧门时，调查员谢罗德·斯坦西尔说他听到了婴儿的哭声。

亚特兰大警察局

斯坦西尔在 8 月 19 日的新闻发布会上说：“当时的情况是，那是一年中最热的日子之一，而且确实是一起绑架案，孩子们与他们的母亲分离，我们意识到我们需要进入屋内，解救这些孩子。”

救援过程中，执法人员的随身摄像头拍摄的视频显示，他们剪断了拖车后门的门栓，露出了坐在成堆毯子中的两个孩子和布朗。警方认为布朗就住在这辆拖车里，拖车没有空调，只有顶棚通风系统和一台电风扇。警方称，当天气温高达97华氏度（约36摄氏度），这辆拖车根本不适合居住。

圣诞节当天，女儿遛狗时被持刀绑架，这位父亲利用家长控制功能找到了她。

警方在新闻发布会上表示，找到这些孩子对他们所有人来说都是一个激动人心的时刻，尤其是对他们这些父亲和叔叔来说更是如此。

“当我们看到那些孩子被困在里面并且安全脱险后，我们如释重负，”调查员卢卡什·萨伊达克说。“确保孩子们的安全才是我们的最终目标。”

据逮捕令显示，警方在对布朗进行讯问并将其拘留后，布朗承认孩子们由她照顾，她本应将他们送回母亲身边，但她无法给出合理的解释来说明她为什么没有这样做。

布朗目前被关押在富尔顿县监狱，不得保释。她的下次出庭日期是9月10日。

“我以为只是一次普通的外出活动。我信任她，但她辜负了我的信任，”雷丁告诉 CNN 附属电视台 WSB。

当局称，这并非布朗首次试图绑架儿童。逮捕令显示，她再次使用“如出一辙”的社交媒体骗局，冒充保姆，博取“毫无戒心的母亲们的信任”。亚特兰大警方还发现，她在另一个州已被通缉。

据杰斐逊县警长办公室称，2021年8月，布朗涉嫌与一名女子及其家人结识，随后带着他们出生仅4天的婴儿在阿拉巴马州费尔菲尔德失踪。孩子的母亲布里奥娜·华盛顿向CNN附属电视台WVTM讲述了她的遭遇。

调查期间，华盛顿及其家人指出，布朗的社交媒体账户上发布的视频和照片显示，一个婴儿与他们刚出生的孩子长得很像，警长办公室表示。华盛顿一家还告诉警方，布朗过去曾在社交媒体上发帖声称自己最近生了一对双胞胎男孩。

布朗被拘留时，华盛顿的孩子并不在她身边，她否认参与绑架，警长办公室称。几个小时后，警方在利普斯科姆的一处住宅找到了失踪的新生儿。警方签发了一级绑架罪的逮捕令，并将布朗的保释金定为10万美元。

根据一份法庭文件，布朗于2021年10月缴纳保释金。华盛顿告诉WVTM电视台，直到大约一年前在公共场合见到布朗，她才知道布朗已被释放。她还表示，杰斐逊县并未通知她布朗获释一事。

他伸手去扶一个他认为要摔倒的幼儿。之后他被关押了数周，直到案件被撤销。

杰斐逊县贝塞默分局地方检察官林妮丝·华盛顿表示，由于新冠疫情后案件积压严重，布朗直到去年才被起诉。

林妮丝·华盛顿表示，布朗的案件于 2025 年 2 月提交给大陪审团，之后她没有按时出庭。

“我非常同情布朗女士结识的那两位母亲，”琳妮丝·华盛顿说。“阿拉巴马州和佐治亚州这两起案件最好的结果是，孩子们都平安无事地被找到，并回到了父母身边。”

据CNN附属电视台WSB报道，布朗在佐治亚州保尔丁县还面临一项轻罪指控，罪名是撒谎和妨碍调查。保尔丁县警长阿什利·亨森表示，该指控源于布朗涉嫌伪造怀孕的案件。

富尔顿县警长办公室

根据警长报告，2025年8月，警方接到一名女子的报警电话，她担心自己哥哥新生儿的健康状况。她哥哥说他收到了一张新生儿的照片，照片显示婴儿已经奄奄一息。她还向警员发送了布朗女士疑似怀孕并谈论即将生个女儿的截图和照片。

据警长报告，当警员到达布朗家时，她声称家中除了一个6个月大的婴儿外，没有其他新生儿。警员获准进入布朗的住所，但最终未能找到新生儿。

Brandon Dill/《华盛顿邮报》/TGetty Images

一名孟菲斯男子因涉嫌擅闯市长住宅而被控企图绑架。

“我们实际上已经确定，她使用了一个看起来像是玩偶的东西来模拟一个真正的孩子，”亨森告诉 WSB。

“令人震惊的是，竟然有人会这样做，通过声称‘嘿，我怀孕了’，并展示一些图片和物品，让人相信她真的怀孕了，以此来敲诈勒索别人的钱财。”亨森告诉 WUPA。

亚特兰大警察局警告各家各户，在选择照看孩子的人时要谨慎，并建议人们尽量选择家庭成员或经过认证的机构。

“我们理解照顾孩子会让人感到压力，尤其是年幼的孩子。如果你是单亲父母，有时会很艰难，但有很多资源可以利用，”亚特兰大警察局凶杀案调查组指挥官克里斯托弗·巴特勒中尉说。

据 CNN 附属电视台 WVTM 报道，两位母亲布里奥娜·华盛顿和雷丁此后建立了联系，因为她们都面临着类似的经历而结缘。

“这次他们没必要放她出去，”华盛顿说。“因为如果你们一直放她出去，她肯定还会继续做同样的事情。这就像一种常态，她会一直这么做下去。”