Missing Atlanta girls found in trailer after alleged babysitter failed to return them to mother
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Court records say the girls’ mother met the woman through a Facebook pregnancy group before trusting her to watch her daughters.
The break in the search for two missing Atlanta sisters came down to a sound. A detective checking a parking lot heard a baby crying from inside a tow trailer.
Court records obtained by PEOPLE detail how 4-year-old Zola Cooper and her 11-month-old sister, Norah, were recovered Monday, Aug. 17, after the FBI tracked a cellphone to an area on Sylvan Road SW.
Officers found the girls inside a trailer that had no air conditioning, only overhead ventilation, on a day when temperatures reached roughly 97 degrees. Police described the interior as unclean and unsuitable for human habitation. The children appeared to be in good condition and were taken to a hospital for evaluation.
Lakesha Shanta Brown now faces two counts each of kidnapping and first-degree cruelty to children. According to the records, Brown waived her Miranda rights and acknowledged to investigators that the children had been in her custody and that she should have returned them when their mother asked, but detectives said she offered no logical explanation for why she didn’t.
The relationship began online. The girls’ mother, Elica Redding, told investigators she met Brown in a Facebook pregnancy group where Brown presented herself as part of a support network offering babysitting services. The two communicated and spent time together over roughly a year before Redding agreed on Aug. 15 to let Brown watch her daughters.
Redding checked in throughout the day and was told everything was fine, the records state. When she arrived at the agreed meeting point that evening, no one was there.
Brown allegedly offered a series of excuses before eventually claiming she had been in an accident and that the children were with child welfare officials. Detectives found no such record with DFCS or area hospitals, and Brown stopped responding.
Investigators soon discovered Brown had an active failure-to-appear warrant from Alabama tied to a 2021 case in which a 4-day-old infant vanished from a Fairfield home. That child was later found safe. An Atlanta detective described the approach in both cases as identical, alleging Brown posed as a babysitter through social media groups to gain mothers’ trust.
Brown is being held at the Fulton County Jail and waived her first court appearance Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether she has retained an attorney.