Two Indiana Women Credited With Locating Kidnapped Twin After His Alleged Abductor’s Arrest

Two women are credited with tracking down a baby boy in Indiana and reuniting him with his mother and father days after he and his twin brother were abducted in Ohio, authorities said.

Around 9:45 p.m. on Dec. 19, Wilhelmina Barnett, 21, left her 5-month-old boys, Kason and Kyair, in a running car at a pizzeria in Columbus. A woman, later identified as Nalah T. Jackson, allegedly stole the vehicle with the children inside, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Around 4:15 the next morning, a passerby discovered one of the boys, Kyair, in a car seat between two vehicles in a parking lot at the Dayton International Airport.

Kyair’s brother Kason remained missing — until cousins Shyann Delmar and Mecka Curry went to incredible lengths to locate and bring the child home after a chance encounter with the twins’ alleged kidnapper a state away in Indiana.

According to The Indy Star, Delmar, 27, was at a gas station in Indianapolis the day after the boys were abducted and purchased toys from a woman, who she then gave a ride to a nearby Dollar Store.

The publication reported the woman started acting erratically, so Delmar filmed her. The following day, Dec. 21, Delmar said she was on Facebook and saw mug shots of 24-year-old Jackson, the kidnapping suspect in Ohio. Believing Jackson and the person who sold her toys at the gas station may be the same person, she asked her cousin Curry for her opinion.

“I wanted just to verify it before I got her locked up,” Delmar explained to The Indy Star.

By chance, Delmar had exchanged telephone numbers with Jackson. On Dec. 22, she and her cousin made up an excuse and arranged to meet her so they could tip off the police to her location.

After making multiple calls to authorities, The Indy Star reported, Delmar and Curry were in the car with Jackson when police phoned them back. Curry, pretending to be speaking with a friend, was able to alert officers to their location.

An officer stopped the car around 2 p.m. and took Jackson into custody after Delmar and Curry reportedly showed the officer a screenshot of Jackson’s mugshot.

“At that point, that was a relief,” Curry said, noting to The Indy Star that she and Delmar didn’t stop with Jackson’s arrest and decided their next step was to locate the still-missing twin, Kason.

The cousins found a vital clue that unraveled the case in the backseat of their car: a bus schedule Jackson had left behind. Delmar and Curry began to look in the areas of the stops listed on the route for the missing Honda the twins were in when they were abducted. They theorized the stolen vehicle would be covered with snow from a fresh snowfall since it likely wouldn’t have been moved.

Incredibly, around 7 p.m. — five hours after Jackson’s arrest — the pair were on the verge of giving up when they spotted a Honda in the parking lot of a Papa John’s that was on the bus route.

In the locked car, Curry said she could see the missing twin. She alerted officers who were in a nearby restaurant, and the boy was rescued.

“I’m just grateful I have my boys back," Barnett said at a recent party to celebrate the return of her twin sons.

“When we found Kason, Kyair was able to go to sleep,” the mother noted, The Columbus Dispatch reported. “He wasn’t able to go to sleep when his brother was missing.”

The twins’ father, Lachez Thomas, 23, added, “It’s like you don’t want to let them go.”

Jackson faces multiple charges, including two counts of kidnapping, authorities said.