A mother has been charged in connection with an Amber Alert for a 10-month-old baby who was believed to have been in "extreme danger," state police in Virginia said Wednesday.
The police issued the alert for the baby, Cedar Samuel Griffith, on Tuesday after a child abduction allegedly occurred on Monday at about 8:10 p.m. ET. The alert asked people to be on the watch for a 30-year-old woman named Ashley Jordan Griffith, who police said was the woman "believed" to have abducted the baby.
On Wednesday, the sheriff's office in Madison County, Kentucky, said Ashley Griffith was arrested following a motorist assistance stop at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Madison County Sheriff's Office told Newsweek that Griffith is the child's mother.
More information about the arrest, including why Griffith allegedly took the child, remained unknown as of Wednesday afternoon.
"Deputy Shane Johnson made contact with the female driver with a small child passenger. The driver identified as Ashley Griffith stated she needed a jump start for her vehicle," the sheriff's office wrote in a post to Facebook.
Police discovered the Virginia Amber Alert after further investigation of the vehicle and proceeded to arrest her on charges of resisting arrest and being a fugitive from another state. She was being held in the Madison County Detention Center, and the baby was taken into custody by the sheriff's deputies, according to the post.
Meanwhile, the Virginia State Police updated its alert to say that "both missing individuals have been safely located."
Before Griffith's arrest, the child was last seen on Daniel Boone Road in Gate City, Virginia, which is just north of the border with Tennessee. The two were ultimately located at the 5800 block of Battlefield Memorial Highway in Berea, Kentucky, more than 160 miles away from Gate City.
Madison County is in central Kentucky and contains Richmond and the southern suburbs of Lexington.
The Amber Alert was first issued just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. "The child is believed to be in extreme danger and was last seen on Daniel Boone Road in Gate City, VA," it said.
Amber Alerts began in 1996 following the abduction and death of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas.
Once law enforcement determines a child has been abducted and that the abduction meets the Amber Alert criteria, police notify broadcasters and state transportation officials about the abduction, according to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs.
The program has been credited with helping the recovery of 1,200 children, according to the DOJ. In 2022, 227 Amber Alerts were issued across the United States.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
