JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio – (25 News/WOIO) – Details continue to unfold concerning the alleged kidnapping and abduction of a five-year-old girl from Jackson Township, Ohio found safe in Illinois.
The alleged kidnapper, Jonathan Lee Stinnett, is under arrest and in custody, according to Jackson Township police.
Authorities say the girl was found safe around 7:30 p.m. Friday near Bloomington after the McLean County Sheriff’s Office received a tip about a suspicious van with Michigan plates.
Stinnett was found sleeping inside the vehicle, which was parked along a field entrance. The girl was found inside the rear passenger area.
The sheriff’s office said Stinnett was arrested without incident, and the girl was taken to a hospital. Her family has traveled to Illinois and has been reunited with the girl.
According to a Facebook post from the McLean County Sheriff’s Office, when police ran the van’s plates, they discovered there was an outstanding kidnapping warrant associated with the vehicle as well as an AMBER Alert.
Jackson Township authorities released more details Saturday.
The little girl was taken around 6:15 p.m. Thursday. According to a 911 call obtained by WOIO-TV, the child’s mother told a dispatcher that her babysitter’s boyfriend said he was going to take the girl to a McDonald’s to go to the bathroom.
The mother said the babysitter contacted her after growing concern when Stinnett failed to return. That’s when she called 911.
Initially, an endangered missing child alert was issued for the girl just after midnight Thursday night, but authorities then changed it to an AMBER Alert hours later after 2 p.m. Friday. The AMBER Alert was canceled at 9:52 p.m.
Stinnett remains in the McLean County Jail. Jackson Township police said he will be extradited to Ohio.
