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Nalah Jackson allegedly kidnapped two infant boys from Ohio. She has since pleaded guilty to spitting on a sheriff’s deputy who was booking her into an Indiana jail. (Mug shot via Columbus Police Department)
A woman has pleaded guilty as the person who kidnapped two Ohio infants, abandoning one in an airport parking lot and leaving the other in another state to sit alone in their mother’s stolen car during a snowstorm. The first of those children later died in an apparently unrelated tragedy.
As part of the plea deal, Nalah T. Jackson, 25, faces 20 years in prison, said the U.S. Department of Justice in the Southern District of Ohio. Records show no date for the sentencing hearing.
“There is no greater responsibility than protecting our youth,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “This community watched in horror as Nalah Jackson preyed on two vulnerable babies. Today, she admitted her crime and agreed to spend 20 years in prison for her actions.”
The boys’ mother was picking up a delivery order from Donatos Pizza in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 19, 2022, prosecutor. She left her Honda Accord running with the children inside, and while she was out, Jackson took the still-running vehicle, authorities said.
According to prosecutors, she drove through different areas of Ohio before ending up at the Daytona International Airport and ultimately leaving one of the babies in his car seat between two vehicles in a parking lot at 4 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2022. A passerby found the baby and told security.
As for Jackson, she sped off, reaching Indianapolis with the second baby inside the vehicle.
She made her way to a Papa Johns Pizza on Indiana Avenue near the university district at approximately 8 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2022. This time, however, she finally abandoned the Honda Accord and left the second baby strapped in his car seat in the back.
“The baby remained strapped in the car seat for the next two-and-a-half-days while family members, concerned citizens and law enforcement officers continued to search for him,” authorities said.
Two women who helped catch Jackson also searched for the second baby, authorities said. They eventually encountered the Honda Accord amid an impending snowstorm, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“They drove up to the stolen car and attempted to open the back door, which was locked,” officials wrote. “The driver’s door did open. Due to an overwhelming foul smell coming from the car and the silence of the baby, one of the women screamed, assuming the baby was deceased. Upon hearing the scream, the baby alerted and began crying. One of the women removed the baby from his car seat and began comforting him.”
Prosecutors described the boy as suffering from issues including dehydration, heart abnormalities from the dehydration, and skin deterioration from being buckled into the car seat for so long.
The twins returned home, but the family suffered another horrifying shock. The first of the babies, the one found at the Daytona International Airport, died the following January after he was found not breathing at home.
The coroner’s office determined he died from “Sudden Unexplained Infant Death with other significant conditions.”
Other significant conditions that contributed to his death include being facedown on an adult bed, unsupervised, and surrounded by “excess pillows and blankets,” the coroner said.
Officials said all those things together made up an unsafe sleep environment for the infant.
“It is well documented that infants under the age of 8 months have limited strength in the neck musculature to reposition their airway when encountering possible obstructions,” the press release said. “This is a form of oxygen deprivation (anoxic brain injury), however, because a contributory component of mechanical or obstructive asphyxia can be neither confirmed nor excluded in this infant’s death as determined by the investigation and circumstances, the manner of death is best ruled as Undetermined.”
