Two girls who were abducted from a Burger King in Georgia have been found safe, and their mother has been arrested, police said.
An Amber Alert was issued after Kylann Harper, 4, and Kylie Horne, 11, were taken from the fast food restaurant located in the 7300 block of Veterans Parkway in Columbus, Georgia, just before midday on Sunday.
The girls were found safe “in an area of South Georgia” around 11:30 a.m. on Monday, the Columbus Police Department said in a news release posted on Facebook.
In an update later on Monday, the police department said the girls’ mother, Kaila Spires, was arrested in Georgia’s Tift County and charged with two counts of kidnapping.
🚨UPDATE🚨On today’s date, an arrest warrant was executed for the mother of both children who were abducted from the Burger King in North Columbus. Kaila…
Spires, 39, will be extradited to Columbus, police said.
Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had said the two girls were with Mikaela Harrell, reportedly a friend of Spires, at the Burger King restaurant.
They left the restaurant in a 2011 blue/gray Honda CRV SUV with a Georgia tags at around 11:50 a.m. on Sunday, according to police.
Police later said they were believed to have switched vehicles and were traveling in a 2004 Gold Lexus.
Photos of the girls, Harrell and the vehicles involved were circulated on social media in a bid to locate them.
Update: #AMBERAlert canceled. Both Kylie and Kylann have been found safe.Original post:Levi’s Call (GA’s #AMBERAlert) issued for 11 year old Kylie…
Police have not said if Harrell has been located or taken into custody. The Columbus Police Department has been contacted for further comment via email.
The Amber Alert System provides law enforcement nationwide the ability to notify the public of missing children who are believed to have been abducted. Amber stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was murdered in January 1996 after being kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas.
Georgia’s Amber Alert, known as Levi’s Call, can be activated only by local law enforcement agencies through a request to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). It is named after 11-year-old Levi Frady, who was abducted and murdered in October 1997.
David McNew/Getty Images
The alert can be activated when law enforcement officials have a reasonable belief that an abduction has occurred, that the victim is 17 or younger and is believed to be in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
According to the GBI’s website, alerts will not be granted for non-custodial abductions where no danger exists to the child and runways.
There are 82 Amber Alert plans throughout the country, according to the system’s website. As of January this year, 1,127 children have been rescued specifically because of the Amber Alert system, the website states.
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