Ayvani Perez Found: Kidnapped Ga. teen safe; 2 suspects in custody, police say
Updated 1:50 p.m. EST (CBS) ELLENWOOD, Ga. - Ayvani Perez, a 14-year-old Georgia girl who was abducted from her home early Tuesday, has been found safe and two suspects are in custody, Clayton County police say.
Chief Gregory Porter with the Clayton County police says Ayvani was found "at a location in Conyers, Georgia."
Porter said the teen is "in good health" and is being evaluated at a hospital. She has been reunited with her family.
"This is a good day. This is a good day for the Perez family, but more important for Ayvani," Porter said in a news conference Wednesday.
The FBI identified the suspects in custody as Juan Alberto Rodriguez, a 40-year-old Mexican national, and Wildrego Jackson, 29, of Atlanta. The FBI says Rodriguez is being held on immigration-related charges and Jackson is being held on conspiracy to kidnap.
According to state Department of Corrections records, Jackson was released from state prison in 2007 after serving time for several drug-related convictions, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. The paper also reports Jackson was released from the Fulton County Jail on July 19 after being arrested on numerous charges including aggravated stalking and theft-by-receiving.
Authorities say they are looking at several other suspects in the kidnapping. They would not elaborate, except to say that two suspects pictured in police sketches released to the public have not been found.
Authorities also said during the news conference Wednesday that officials have not determined the relationship between Ayvani's family and the suspects. They said the motive has not been determined.
Two men, described as wearing black clothing and armed with handguns, pried open the back door of her home in the Ellenwood area around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday in an apparent random home invasion. The robbers demanded money and jewelry and when they were told there was none, abducted Ayvani and killed the family dog, authorities said.
Ayvani's mother had her daughter and her 15-year-old son hiding inside the home at the time of the alleged attempted burglary, but the intruders were able to find them, police said in an earlier statement. The men abducted Ayvani with no explanation, police said.
CBS News reported that a cousin of Ayvani said the suspected abductors later demanded a $10,000 ransom for the return of the girl. Law enforcement officials would not confirm that claim.
The crime happened on a cul-de-sac in Ellenwood, a small community about 10 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. The neighborhood is on the northern edge of Clayton County, just south of the DeKalb County line.
The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation assisted Clayton County police in the search for the teen.