Georgia mother uses Find My iPhone feature to track kidnapped son

‘It’s a crime of opportunity, thieves know when people are going to leave their car running while they just run in somewhere’

A Georgia mother used the Find My iPhone feature to track her son after the family’s car was stolen with the 9-year-old still inside.

Jerrica Moore parked her vehicle on 4 April and stepped away from the car without removing the keys, the Atlanta Police Department said. A man then got into the car and drove off with the child still inside.

“Officers immediately responded to the scene and began their preliminary investigation,” police said in a Facebook post. “Ms Moore was able to track her son’s iPhone using ‘my location’ and relay real time tracking information to officers. Atlanta Police with the assistance of Georgia State Patrol (GSP), Fulton County PD and the Fulton County Sheriff’s responded and used the tracking information to work at locating the vehicle.”

“An Atlanta officer was able to spot the vehicle being closely pursued by GSP. The suspect attempted to flee from officers, but GSP was able to successfully execute a precision immobilization technique (PIT) to render the vehicle immobile,” Atlanta Police added.

The suspect was arrested without incident and the child appeared to be uninjured but was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Hughes Spalding Hospital for evaluation.

“We are happy to report the child and his mother have been reunited. We again remind the community to lock their cars, and remove all valuables, including their children, when exiting their vehicles,” police said.

A mother in Georgia used the Find My iPhone feature to track her kidnapped son to a stolen vehicle (Atlanta Police Department)

Kids and Car Safety Director Amber Rollins told Fox News Digital that car thefts are “happening in safe, nice neighbourhoods, convenience stores, daycares, in the driveways of people’s homes”.

“It’s a crime of opportunity, thieves know when people are going to leave their car running while they just run in somewhere. No amount of time is safe,” she added.

A 9-year-old boy was saved after the car he was in was stolen (Atlanta Police Department)

“Bad guys are going to take advantage of the opportunity, and they don’t see the child in the back seat until they’ve already taken the car,” she said. “Most of the time they realize very quickly and they panic and ditch the car, or dump the kid off the side of the road.”

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), between the start of the pandemic and 21 May last year, 40 children were abducted in car thefts, leading to the issuing of AMBER alerts. But police have said there have been many similar occasions where an AMBER alert wasn’t necessary, NCMEC noted.