An urgent Amber Alert was activated on Monday for young sisters, 4-year-old Zola Cooper and 11-month-old Norah Cooper, sending the Atlanta community on high alert.
ATLANTA — In a disturbing kidnapping case that shook Atlanta, Georgia, court documents revealed that the suspect, a babysitter, first connected with the children’s mother through a Facebook group for expectant mothers. The suspect, Lakesha Brown, gained the mother’s trust by claiming to be a supportive ally.
The search for the missing girls spanned several tense hours on Monday, August 17, until Atlanta Police successfully located Zola and Norah Cooper in a neighborhood about five miles from where they were last seen.
On the following day, August 18, the Atlanta Police Department released body camera footage showing the rescue operation. The girls were found inside a trailer that was harshly described as dirty and inappropriate for living, lacking air conditioning amid sweltering 97-degree heat.
Lakesha Brown now faces severe legal consequences, charged with two counts each of first-degree cruelty to children and kidnapping. Jail records confirm these charges as her current offenses.
Court documents in Brown’s case allege that she was hiding with the girls in a tow trailer at the apartment complex where they were found. That trailer was discovered when an Atlanta police detective in the area was checking vehicles and heard a baby crying from inside the trailer.
“By placing and maintaining the small children in these conditions without proper authority or adequate care, Ms. Brown endangered and jeopardized their health, safety and well-being,” the court documents say. “The children were deprived of the necessary care and sustenance required for their health and welfare.”
It is unknown how long the girls were in the trailer, but according to WXIA’s recounting of the event, it’s possible they were there for as long as 48 hours.
Thankfully, the girls “appeared to be in good condition,” according to police, and were taken to a children’s hospital in Atlanta for evaluation.
Other details on how the kidnapping unfolded are contained in the court documents.
According to the court documents, Brown — who had a previous kidnapping accusation in Alabama five years ago — allegedly presented herself as part of a network that “assisted mothers with babysitting and related services” on a Facebook group for pregnant moms.
Throughout the course of about a year, police say Brown worked to gain the mother’s trust.
In 2021, Brown was accused of kidnapping a 4-day-old baby boy in Jefferson County, Alabama. She was further accused in that case of posting photos and videos on social media with the baby boy she’d kidnapped and claiming she had recently given birth.
On the day of the kidnapping, Saturday, Aug. 15, the mother of the two girls said Brown told her she would take them to Walmart and a candy store. The mom told police she checked in with Brown throughout the day and that Brown “advised her that everything was OK.”
Things took a turn when the mom was supposed to meet up with Brown to get the girls back. Court documents say Brown and the girls were not at the house where pickup had been arranged, and the mom called Brown multiple times, who each time “made an excuse for being late or for not arriving.”
Eventually, as the situation escalated and the mom demanded the return of her children, Brown allegedly told her she was in an accident, that “I don’t have your kids, and they are at DFCS (the Georgia Division for Family & Children Services).” The mom said Brown then stopped answering calls.
Police said the girls were not in DFCS custody, and their mother then called 911 to report the kidnapping.
Detectives working the case learned of the Alabama case and that Brown had an active warrant in that case for failing to appear to court dates. She was out on bond in that case.
According to court documents, the “mode of operation” that Brown used in that kidnapping case and in this one was “identical … Ms. Brown posed as a babysitter through a social media group and gained the trust of unsuspecting mothers before kidnapping their children.”
Five years ago, the Jefferson County (AL) Sheriff’s Office said their investigation suggested Brown “may have attempted this type of behavior in the past,” suggesting this is possibly the third or more time she has allegedly kidnapped or attempted to kidnap someone else’s children.
‘You gotta get to them’
Atlanta officers shared their accounts Wednesday, Aug. 19, following the rescue of the two young sisters who’d been kidnapped, triggering an Amber Alert and hourslong search in the city.
The video showed officers breaking a lock at the back of the trailer, pulling down the door and getting the girls out of the trailer.
Cellphone data led law enforcement to the apartment complex, and officers focused in on the trailer when they heard a baby crying inside.
“Once you could hear those children crying inside, it was a sense of urgency, get in there at any means necessary,” investigator Lukasz Sajdak said. “Get them out before the situation changes or anything gets worse.”
Investigator Sherrod Stancil, who can be seen in the bodycam video opening the trailer door, said, “You don’t know what they’re going through, you don’t know if they are being harmed.”
“Kids, especially kids of that age, it doesn’t matter, you kind of gotta do something… You gotta get to them, you gotta get it done,” Stancil said.
Sajdak, summing things up, said, “Just getting those children back with their parents, that was the ultimate goal, was the safety of the kids.”
“Once we saw those kids were in there and they got us out safely, it was a weight off our shoulders,” Sajdak said.