After their shocking abduction from a Burger King restaurant, the two missing young girls have been found.
Kylie Horne, 11, and Kylann Harper, 4, disappeared on Sunday morning (Oct 15) around 11:52 am, with police telling the public that they were in ‘extreme danger’.
Though the girls have been found, the investigation into their kidnapping continues.
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According to Georgia authorities, the girls initially disappeared from the chain restaurant in Columbus after being seen with Mikaela Harrell.
It is unclear what the 49-year-old’s relationship to the girls is, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) did confirm that she’d previously been convicted of drug offences.
Eager to find the missing girls, an amber alert was issued, describing the outfits Harper and Horne had been wearing during the outing.
The alert also described the car they and Harrell had been travelling in - a 2011 blue/gray Honda CRV SUV - with authorities claiming they’d later been moved to a 2004 Gold Lexus.
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It also gave the licence plates of both cars, with authorities stating that the young girls were in ‘extreme danger’.
As the hours went by, their mom Kaila Spires was also identified as a person of interest in the kidnapping case.
Thankfully, the children were safely recovered around 11:30 a.m. on Monday morning (Oct 16) according to the Columbus Police Department.
Their statement read: “As of Monday, October 16, 2023, at approximately 11:30 a.m., both children have been located in the area of South Georgia and are safe. The investigation is ongoing, and charges could be forthcoming for those involved in the abduction.”
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Following the discovery of the young girls, police also announced that Spires had been taken into custody over the incident.
Local authorities are yet to set a court date, but they confirmed that the 39-year-old would be extradited back to Columbus.
It’s not the first time Spires has been arrested, with the mom having a previous conviction for burglary after she broke into a residential home.
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Meanwhile, Harell has two previous convictions for possession of methamphetamine, and even received a felony charge at one point. According to the New York Post, the 49-year-old was caught with between 28-199 grams of the drug on her and on parole from August 2007 to August 2016.
Despite being named in the amber alert, the woman hasn’t been charged in relation to the abduction of Harper and Horne last week.
The investigation is still ongoing.
Katherine Sidnell