CLARKSTON, Ga. — Officials in Georgia continue to search for answers in the kidnapping of Blaise Barnett, a 1-year-old boy who was inside his family’s SUV when it was stolen outside their apartment.Police said Barnett’s mother left the child inside the parked car around 1 a.m. local time early Wednesday morning as she unloaded groceries into the apartment in Clarkston, a small Atlanta-area city.
That’s when someone jumped into the unlocked vehicle and drove off, with Blaise inside, authorities said.
“I ran downstairs and I’m like, ‘No, not my baby, no,'” Deonna Bray, the child’s mother, told the local ABC station WSB.
Around 11 a.m. local time, police recovered the 2002 Ford Explorer about a mile and a half away from the family’s apartment but the child and his carseat were not inside. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are assisting local authorities in the search for Blaise.
There are no suspects yet, a spokesman for the Clarkston Police Department told ABC News.
James Dent, a local resident assisting in the search, told WSB that he found the stolen SUV and saw a man running away when he approached.
“He ran up the hill back, back up this plaza up here. And by that time, I had already called 911,” he said.
Authorities determined that Dent was not connected to the carjacking or 1-year-old’s disappearance, WSB reported.
Bray has since pleaded for her son’s safe return and said she’s “covered in emotions.”
“I’ve never been away from him like this where I don’t know where he’s at, so I’m hurt … Bring him back safely and unharmed in the quickest way possible,” she said.
“Don’t put him out on the street in the cold. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that,” she added.
Family members and loved ones said they’re relying on their faith in God and believe Blaise will return home.
“We believe God, and we’re going to have the glory, and God is going to have the glory, and we’re going to have the victory that God is going to bring baby Blaise home,” family friend Courtney Chatman said Wednesday night after praying outside the family home.
Bray organized a late-night search for her son Wednesday and said her community has her full support.
“Everybody’s willing to go above and beyond to find him. It does mean a lot,” she said.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has issued an Amber Alert for this case.
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