Lots of questions after missing DeKalb kids are found

The two young children apparently kidnapped by a man their mother thought was a Good Samaritan are safe now. But there are plenty of unanswered questions about their disappearance and about what will happen next.

“The children in question were found unharmed shortly after 1:00 this afternoon,” said Dekalb County Police spokeswoman Mekka Parish.

Jalen Mattison, 3, and his sister Amari, 1, were with a man who stopped to help their mother after her car broke down along I-20 near Wesley Chapel Rd. at around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday. The mom left the children with the man for a moment as she went to talk with police officer about getting her disabled vehicle towed from the highway. The woman told police that when she returned, the Good Samaritan and her children were gone.

“Shortly after the kids were kidnapped, the suspect took the children and dropped them off at some friends’ house and asked them to babysit” Parish explained.

When the babysitters discovered the two children were the subjects of a Levi’s call, (Georgia’s version of the Amber Alert), Parish said the women turned them over to police.

More than three hours later, the women were still being questioned at DeKalb Police headquarters. The suspect was still on the loose. The children’s mother is now being investigated by the Department of Children and Family Services.