Three children are safe after being kidnapped during a vehicle theft in the early hours Sunday.
According to a press release from the Grand Island Police Department on January 29th at about 3 a.m., a Grand Island resident reported his 2012 Chevy Traverse stolen from the 1400 Block of North Wheeler in Grand Island. His three children, ages 5, 1, and 7 months, were in the vehicle at the time of the theft. A very short time later, the Grand Island Police Department, not yet aware of the children’s presence, attempted to stop the vehicle but were unsuccessful and terminated the pursuit.
The investigation led officers to believe the vehicle was in Buffalo County. The vehicle was later located in rural Buffalo County and two suspects, a 17-year-old Hastings male and Tate Wolfe, 18, of Kearney were taken into custody by the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Department and Nebraska State Patrol, but the missing children were not located in the stolen vehicle.
At 4:52 am, Grand Island Police Officers, while conducting a canvas search, discovered a vehicle stolen out of Kearney, and located the 5 and 1 year old kidnapping victims in that vehicle, believed to have been placed there by the suspects.
However, the infant was not located at that time.
A county wide alert was issued in an attempt to locate the infant, and at 5:25 am a rural Hall County resident located the infant abandoned on the porch of a farmhouse.
All three children were transported for medical attention for suspected hypothermia and frostbite.
Both suspects are in custody and housed in the Hall County Jail on suspicion of 3 counts of Kidnapping, 3 counts of Intentional Childs Abuse resulting in injury, Possession of Stolen Property, and Flight to Avoid Arrest. There may be additional charges in cooperating jurisdictions.
Inter-agency communication, great police work, and the assistance of the public following the alert allowed for a resolution involving the reunion of children to their family, and the suspects being taken into custody. The Grand Island Police Department does not have further updates at this time.
