A 3-year-old girl was found safe days after she was allegedly kidnapped by a “random woman” her parents had let stay at their home because she had nowhere else to stay, according to police.
Little Kehlani Rogers spent a night sleeping on the street with the stranger, 23-year-old Marina Noriega — who allegedly snatched the girl overnight Friday from the home in Avondale, Arizona, before the two were tracked down in Phoenix Sunday.
Kehlani’s parents woke up Saturday morning and found that their daughter was gone — along with a “random woman” they allowed in their home because she “needed a place to stay,” according to court documents obtained by 12 News.
The Avondale Police Department immediately issued an amber alert and an intense search was launched for the missing girl.
Investigators received a tip from a driver who gave a ride to a woman and child matching the police description in the alert.
The driver took the pair to the City of Maricopa, where Noriega indicated she planned to hop on a train to California, according to court documents.
Kehlani and Noriega were seen on surveillance footage at multiple locations in Maricopa before they were reportedly spotted at a QuikTrip in Phoenix, where police found them.
“Kehlani is in good health and [police] do not believe that she was harmed during this ordeal,” the police department said.
Noriega was taken into custody and initially claimed to be Kehlani’s mother before admitting she “made a mistake.”
“Marina denied having any plan for the child after she took her and denied intent to sell or harm the child,” investigators wrote in court documents.
Noriega told cops she had no real reason for going to Maricopa, where she said she and the child “slept on the street” the night before.
Noriega is facing charges of custodial interference and is being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond, according to News 12.
The frightening ordeal comes just weeks after Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show star Savannah Guthrie, was abducted from her home in Tucson — about 130 miles south of Avondale.
Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. She remains missing and authorities have yet to identify a suspect in that case.
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