Toddler is found shivering in his onesie after being dumped in a Texas parking lot by carjackers who stole vehicle he was sat in
- Couple arrested after carjackers steal a vehicle with their sleeping 16-month-old son in the backseat in Harris County, Texas
- Kimberly Cook and Anthony Blue left young Franklynn in an unlocked car with the engine running on Sunday night
- The pair left to play gaming machines inside a Shell gas station
- Authorities say Jabari Davis and Vincent Cannady stole the car before abandoning the child miles away
- A park ranger found Franklynn in a park shivering in a onesie after midnight
- Franklynn was taken to a local hospital as a precaution
A 16-month-old toddler was found shivering in his onesie in a Texas park after two carjackers stole a car with the child inside while his parents played gaming machines in a gas station.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says Kimberly Cook, 21, and her boyfriend Anthony Blue, 29, arrived at a Shell gas station around midnight to play gaming machines inside the convenience store.
The couple left baby Franklynn sleeping inside the couple’s Chrysler 300 with the engine running and the doors unlocked on Sunday.
When the pair later came outside to check on Cook’s son, the car and the young toddler were missing from the parking lot.
Franklynn (pictured), 16-months-old, was sleeping inside a Chrysler 300 in a Texas parking lot when two suspects stole the vehicle
Kimberly Cook (left) and her boyfriend, Anthony Blue (right), left a young toddler in an unlocked car with a running engine while the pair played gaming machines at a gas station
Local authorities were called to the scene and a frantic search immediately began for the Franklynn, ABC 13 reports.
Meanwhile, a park ranger was closing up MacGregor Park just 30 minutes away around 12.25am.
After locking the gates and vacating the premises of any stragglers, the park ranger noticed a figure moving near one of the gates.
A park ranger at MacGregor Park found Franklynn wandering around the area around 12.30am after mistaking the child for an animal
Authorities retrieved Franklynn (pictured) from the scene and transported him to Texas Children’s Hospital as a precaution
The park ranger initially thought it was an animal walking through the parking lot, but it was a shivering Franklynn walking around in his onesie.
Houston Police responded to MacGregor Park and transported the child to Texas Children’s Hospital as a precaution. Franklynn is now safe.
Authorities located the stolen car around 1am near Highway 225, where two suspects led officers in a car chase.
The stolen vehicle was finally stopped some 20 miles away, resulting in 18-year-old Jabari Davis and 19-year-old Vincent Cannady being taken into police custody for questioning.
Vincent Cannady (left) and Jabari Davis (right) were arrested after leading authorities on a car chase following Franklynn’s disappearance
Houston Fire Department’s Kerry Clopton said the desperate situation could have ended poorly if not for the park ranger.
‘It’s pretty chilly out here and a lot of wild animals running around out there. Things could’ve ended very differently had the park ranger not come by here and located the baby,’ he said.
On Sunday night, temperatures dipped to a low of 37 degrees in the Houston area.
Captain Mike Koteras of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office shared news of the incident on Twitter.
‘District 2 Night Shift Deputies responded to the area of the Eastex Fwy and Homestead where a vehicle was stolen with a 16 month old child inside the vehicle. Child was located safe in MacGregor Park. Car was later located and a pursuit then ensued,’ he wrote.
Koteras: ‘District 2 Night Shift Deputies responded to the area of the Eastex Fwy and Homestead where a vehicle was stolen with a 16 month old child inside the vehicle. Child was located safe in MacGregor Park’
Cook and Blue were charged with child endangerment.
Both Davis and Cannady were charged with kidnapping and auto theft, while Davis has an additional charge of evading arrest.
The two men were reportedly on deferred adjudication for previous felony offenses and were at the Harris County Young Men About Change (YMAC) facility earlier that day.
According to a statement from YMAC to ABC 13, the facility is a community corrections treatment center ‘where individuals can be ordered as a condition of probation.’
Although the facility is locked, the the staff does not have the jurisdiction to physically restrain people attempting to leave.