*Two little sisters are safe after Atlanta police say their babysitter took them and failed to bring them home — and investigators say the woman entrusted with the children had been accused in a strikingly similar kidnapping involving a 4-day-old baby five years earlier.
Four-year-old Zola Cooper and her 11-month-old sister, Norah Cooper, were recovered Monday from a trailer in the Atlanta area after an AMBER Alert was issued for the girls. Police took their babysitter, 42-year-old Lakesha Brown, into custody.
The children appeared to be in good health and were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, police said. What investigators still don’t know — or at least haven’t publicly established — is why Brown allegedly took them.
Police Heard a Baby Crying Inside the Trailer
The sisters’ recovery came after an investigation that began when Atlanta police received a call about the missing children around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
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Investigators worked through the night, obtaining warrants and using cellphone data as they attempted to locate Brown and the girls, WBMA reported. Authorities eventually received information indicating Brown might be staying inside a trailer on a property in the Atlanta area.
When officers arrived, they heard what no doubt became the most important sound of the investigation: a baby crying from inside.
Police entered the trailer and found Brown there with both girls. She was taken into custody, while Zola and Norah were transported for medical evaluation.
The Atlanta Police Department said multiple units participated in the investigation along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Police Say Brown Had Gained Their Mother’s Trust
Investigators said Brown wasn’t a stranger who had suddenly entered the family’s life. She had reportedly known the girls’ mother for about a year and had gained her trust.
Police said communications indicated that Brown would return the children, but she allegedly failed to do so.
That relationship makes the circumstances particularly unsettling: The person accused of taking Zola and Norah was someone their mother believed she could trust to care for them.
But as investigators searched for the sisters, information emerged about Brown’s past — and another family that had once found itself desperately waiting for a baby to come home.
A 4-Day-Old Baby Was Taken in 2021
Atlanta police said Brown has ties to Alabama and was involved in a similar case approximately five years ago.
In August 2021, Brown was accused of kidnapping a 4-day-old boy from a home in Fairfield, Alabama, near Birmingham. Authorities said Brown was a family friend who was at the residence with the newborn, his mother and grandmother.
The baby’s mother wasn’t feeling well and went to sleep. When she awakened, authorities said, Brown and her newborn were gone.
Investigators later took Brown into custody, but the infant wasn’t with her. Tips eventually led authorities to a home where the baby was located safely and reunited with his mother.
Brown was charged with first-degree kidnapping in that case. The supplied reporting does not establish the final disposition of that charge.
That distinction matters: The 2021 case establishes a prior kidnapping charge, not a conviction.
The Alabama Connection Helped Police Find the Sisters
This time, Brown’s Alabama history may have helped investigators bring two more children home.
Atlanta police said information received from Alabama authorities assisted them in locating Brown and the Cooper sisters. Combined with warrants, cellphone data and the work of multiple law enforcement agencies, investigators narrowed their search to the property where the trailer was located.
Then came that baby’s cry.
Both sisters were found alive and apparently healthy, ending an ordeal that had triggered an AMBER Alert and a multiagency search.
Authorities continued investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged abduction and had not publicly established a motive in the reporting available Tuesday.
For Zola and Norah’s family, however, the most consequential part of the story is already known: Both little girls came home safe.
For investigators, the unanswered questions now include why a trusted babysitter allegedly failed to return them — and what, if anything, the circumstances have in common with the newborn kidnapping case that put Brown in police custody five years earlier.
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