Holly MatkinMilwaukee, WI – A three-month-old baby boy was kidnapped by two teenaged girls early Wednesday morning after the child’s mother allowed them into her home believing they had nowhere else to stay, according to police.
Schatina Cureton said the two girls, ages 14 and 16, had approached her for help and told her they were homeless, WISN reported.
“They told me they were being molested and that they were being human trafficked, and their mom was making them do things with her boyfriend,” Cureton told the news outlet.
She agreed to let the teens stay at her home located in the 4300-block of West Marion Street on Tuesday night, WISN reported.
But when she awoke at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, she realized the girls and her three-month-old son, Anthony Crudup, were gone.
“It was too quiet…I looked everywhere for him,” she told WISN. “He was gone and they was gone.”
Cureton called 911 and reported the abduction at 2:17 a.m.
Investigators issued an Amber Alert for the kidnapped infant approximately five hours later.
Police tracked the teens down at a house in the 4000-block of North 44th Street at approximately 1 p.m. and located the baby unharmed, WISN reported.
Both girls were taken into custody and booked into a juvenile detention center.
Three men at the residence, ages 19, 33, and 56, were all arrested on unrelated charges, WISN reported.
The nature of their relationship to the kidnapping suspects is unclear.
Investigators said the 16-year-old suspect gave them a similar story to the one she gave Cureton, WISN reported.
She allegedly explained that since no one would believe her about being sexually abused, she figured they might pay attention if she showed up with a baby.
Police said they will be forwarding the case to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the near future, WISN reported.
Cureton said she is relieved her son is home safe and said she hopes the teens who took him are held accountable.
“I feel they should be prosecuted to the max because they didn’t have no business taking my baby. I mean stuff like this only happens on Lifetime movies,” she told WISN on Thursday. “I am so tired. I was just going crazy wondering I was just so worried about my baby. I didn’t know what happened to him and what they did with him.”
“You don’t hear stuff like this every day with teenagers taking babies,” Cureton added. “You know, that was crazy, and they need to be held accountable for their actions.”
