SandyMaloneRandleman, NC – A seven-month-old baby who was the subject of an Amber Alert out of Virginia on Monday was found, and her sex offender father was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Danville police said Emma Grace Kennedy was in good health, but had been taken to the hospital for an evaluation after she was found, WAVY reported.
Police arrested the baby’s father, 51-year-old Carl Ray Kennedy, about 20 miles south of Greensboro, North Carolina, in Randleman.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Danville police and the U.S. Secret Service coordinated efforts in the arrest, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
Kennedy is a registered sex offender out of North Carolina and was out on bond for a drug distribution charge.
The baby was kidnapped on Sunday from a Kwik Mart gas station near the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia, WBTV reported.
Emma’s mother, Krysten Murphy, told police that Kennedy assaulted her and snatched the baby after they had agreed to meet at the convenience store to talk, WAVY reported.
She said she’d ended her three-year relationship with Kennedy after he was arrested on drug charges in March, and he had recently gotten out of jail, according to WRAL.
Murphy told police that her daughter’s father hit her, tried to stab her with a knife, and tried to get into her car before he took off with the baby, WRAL reported.
Emma’s aunt, Amy Metzger, told WAVY that Kennedy was upset with her sister for getting full custody of the baby. He had been harassing the family since the custody decision, she said.
“[Emma’s] a happy growing baby, but she has needs. From everything that I know about Carl, he has no means to take care of a child,” Metzger said.