Mother of child taken in reported abduction said she was “freaking out”
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The mother of a baby who was reported to have been abducted in Lebanon said she was left panicking after it happened Tuesday morning.
Patricia Uder said a family member took her 6-week-old daughter Roxy; the baby was found safe a short time later during a traffic stop in Callaway County.
"I just started freaking out," Uder said. "This is my youngest kid. So I've been a mom for 10 years, and this one getting gone just freaked me out."
According to the Lebanon Police Department, officers received a report the morning of Nov. 10 that an infant may have been taken from a business in the 600 block of West Route 66.
Uder said she had been visiting the “Free Store” in Lebanon, which she regularly goes to on Tuesdays, when her cousin asked to hold the baby before leaving the store.
Uder said she agreed, but her cousin and and Uder's daughter soon disappeared.
Two other women who were at the business that morning helped search for the baby and share information with others.
One witness, Bridget Reeves, said she noticed something unusual when she saw the cousin holding the infant without the mother nearby.
Another witness, Ambry Schaefer, said she helped spread information about the missing baby on social media and searched nearby roads after learning what happened. Schaefer and Uder met that day because Schaefer said she was visiting the Free Store to visit her great-uncle.
"I was fully prepared to go all the way to Columbia to look for this baby if we had to," Schaefer said.
The Lebanon Police Department said officers used automated license plate reader technology to help identify the vehicle's direction of travel.
Once the vehicle appeared to be heading toward Jefferson City, Lebanon police contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which began the process of issuing an AMBER Alert.
The alert was issued at 11:58 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Highway Patrol. About 17 minutes later, a trooper stopped the vehicle on Highway 54 west of Fulton, according to the Highway Patrol.
A 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man were arrested. Their names have not been released.
The infant was found safe and unharmed and taken to the Highway Patrol's Troop F headquarters in Jefferson City before being reunited with her mother.
Uder said she was just glad to have her daughter back and felt immediate relief upon seeing her. She added she plans to press charges in connection with the incident.
Lebanon Police Chief Jerry Harrison credited the department's technology and coordination with the Highway Patrol for the quick recovery.
"Technology like this doesn't replace good police work — it speeds it up," Harrison said in a news release. "In a case like this, speed is everything."
The Lebanon Police Department says more information about its automated license plate reader program and the safeguards surrounding its use is available on the city's Camera Program and Transparency webpage.
