Lakesha Brown allegedly admitted she should have returned the girls when their mother asked her to, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office; City of Atlanta Police Department/Facebook; City of Atlanta Police Department/Facebook
NEED TO KNOW
- Lakesha Brown faces two counts each of kidnapping and first-degree cruelty to children
- Court records allege Brown admitted she should have returned the young sisters when their mother asked her to
- Police say Brown was previously charged in the 2021 kidnapping of a 4-day-old baby in Alabama
A babysitter accused of abducting two young sisters after meeting their mother in a Facebook group had previously been charged with kidnapping a newborn in a strikingly similar case — and allegedly admitted she should have returned the girls when their mother asked her to, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE.
Lakesha Shanta Brown is accused of kidnapping 4-year-old Zola Cooper and her 11-month-old sister, Norah Cooper. A Fulton County arrest affidavit states that Brown had gotten to know the children’s mother over the course of about a year before the alleged abduction.
Brown faces two counts each of kidnapping and first-degree cruelty to children, according to a warrant obtained by PEOPLE.
The girls were found safe on Monday, Aug. 17, PEOPLE previously reported. Newly obtained court records detail the moments leading to their recovery, including a detective hearing a baby crying from inside a tow trailer where the children were found.
After Brown was taken into custody, she was interviewed at Atlanta Police Department headquarters after waiving her Miranda rights, according to the court records.
Credit: City of Atlanta Police Department
Brown admitted that the children had been in her custody and acknowledged that she should have returned them when their mother asked her to, but investigators said she could not provide a logical reason for failing to do so, according to the records.
The records also detail how Brown allegedly entered the life of the children’s mother, Elica Redding, about a year before the girls disappeared.
Redding told investigators that she met Brown in a “Pregnancy Mom Group” on Facebook, where Brown allegedly “presented herself as part of a support system that assisted mothers with babysitting and related services.”
Over the course of about a year, Redding and Brown communicated and began spending time together, and Redding told investigators that Brown gained her trust, according to the records.
On Aug. 15, Redding agreed to let Brown babysit Zola and Norah, the records state. Brown allegedly told Redding that she would take the children to Walmart and “Candy Utopia.”
Redding told investigators that she called Brown throughout the day to check on the girls and that Brown told her everything was OK.
At the end of the day, Redding was supposed to meet Brown and the children at her grandmother’s home on James P. Brawley Drive NW in Atlanta, according to the records. When Redding arrived, neither Brown nor the children were there.
Redding allegedly called Brown multiple times, and each time Brown “made an excuse for being late or for not arriving,” according to the records.
When Redding eventually demanded that Brown return her children, Brown allegedly told her, “I was in an accident; I don’t have your kids, and they are at DFCS.”
Detectives checked with child welfare officials and area hospitals and found no record of the children, according to the records. Brown then allegedly stopped answering phone calls and text messages.
As detectives investigated Brown, they learned she had an active failure-to-appear warrant from Alabama in connection with a kidnapping case, according to the records.
An Atlanta police detective described Brown’s alleged method in the two cases as “identical,” writing that Brown “posed as a babysitter through a social media group and gained the trust of unsuspecting mothers before kidnapping their children.”
The FBI used cellphone ping technology to track Brown’s phone to an area around 2001 Sylvan Road SW, according to the records. Atlanta police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI then canvassed the area.
An Atlanta police fugitive detective checking parked vehicles and a tow trailer in a parking lot heard a baby “crying” from inside the trailer, according to the records.
Officers entered the trailer and found the children, who appeared to be in good condition, according to the records. They were taken to a children’s hospital for a medical evaluation and welfare check, while Brown was taken into custody.
The trailer did not have air conditioning and had only an overhead ventilation system, the records allege. The affidavit states that it was approximately 97 degrees outside.
Police described the trailer’s interior as “unclean and unsuitable for human habitation.”
“By placing and maintaining the small children in these conditions without proper authority or adequate care, Ms. Lakesha Brown endangered and jeopardized their health, safety, and well-being,” the detective alleged in the affidavit. “The children were deprived of the necessary care and sustenance required for their health and welfare.”
PEOPLE previously reported that Atlanta police learned during their search for Zola and Norah that Brown had been involved in a case with similar circumstances in Alabama about five years earlier.
Brown was charged with first-degree kidnapping after 4-day-old Kamarion Taylor disappeared from a home in Fairfield, Ala., in August 2021, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
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Authorities said Brown was a family friend who was at the home with Kamarion, his mother and grandmother. The baby’s mother, who was not feeling well, went to rest and later awoke to discover that both Brown and her newborn were gone.
Brown was taken into custody without the baby and denied involvement in his disappearance, the sheriff’s office said at the time. Tips later led investigators to a home in Lipscomb, Ala., where Kamarion was found healthy and returned to his mother.
The Bessemer District Attorney’s Office subsequently confirmed a first-degree kidnapping warrant for Brown, whose bond was set at $100,000, according to the sheriff’s office.
At the time, Jefferson County investigators said information obtained during the investigation suggested Brown “may have attempted this type of behavior in the past.”
Atlanta police said Brown had an outstanding Alabama warrant for failing to appear in connection with the earlier case, PEOPLE previously reported.
Jefferson County District Attorney Lynneice Washington has since filed a motion seeking to revoke Brown’s bond in the Alabama case, according to WBRC. The motion was awaiting a judge’s signature.
Brown is being held at the Fulton County Jail. She waived her first court appearance on Tuesday, Aug. 18, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
It was not immediately clear if Brown has retained an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
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