Bodycam video shows Atlanta police finding 2 sisters believed to be abducted by their babysitter

Body camera video released by the Atlanta Police Department shows the moment officers found two young sisters believed to have been kidnapped from their mother over the weekend.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had issued an Amber Alert for 4-year-old Zola Cooper and 11-month-old Norah Cooper, after investigators said they were abducted by their babysitter, 42-year-old Lakesha Brown. 

The search ended on Monday afternoon after officers found Brown and the two children inside a trailer at an apartment complex on Sylvan Road.

In the footage, shared by the police department on Tuesday, the officers used bolt cutters to open the trailer. The sounds of the children crying can be heard and the officers spot Brown and the girls.

The officers are able to get the infant and 4-year-old out before they pull Brown out of the packed trailer. 

The two children were determined to be in good health and have been reunited with their mother, officials said.

Brown is charged with two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, two counts of kidnapping, and more. She remains in custody at the Fulton County Jail.

"She was playing me the whole time," mother says

Elica Redding, the mother of Zola and Norah, said that she first met Brown through social media and became friends.

"I first met her when she made a post about doing hair for expecting moms. She reached out," said Elica Redding, the girls' mother. "The first time she reached out, I brushed it to the side, and the second time I just let her do my hair, and after that we started talking and being friends."

On Saturday evening, Redding said that she allowed Brown to take care of her daughters, believing she would return her children. They never came home that night. Brown also allegedly told the mother that she and the children had been involved in a crash involving a semi-truck, but police said they found no evidence that an accident occurred.

Redding said that they saw no signs that Brown could have done something like that to her in the months that they knew each other.

"She put on a fake front, and it wasn't her real heart. She was playing me the whole time. That's how I feel," Redding said.

A previous kidnapping accusation

Police said Brown is from Alabama and has an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant connected to a case there involving similar circumstances about five years ago. 

According to WBMA, Brown had been arrested after she was accused of kidnapping a 4-day-old boy in Fairfield, Alabama, in August 2021. 

Authorities told the news outlet that Brown was a family friend to the newborn's family and took the child when his mother fell asleep.

The infant was later found safe, WBMA reports.

The Atlanta Police Department said that Brown had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in that case.