ATLANTA, Ga. — Atlanta police officers forced their way into a trailer after hearing a child crying and safely recovered two young sisters who had been reported kidnapped, according to the department and local reporting.

The Atlanta Police Department said officers responded around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, after the children’s mother reported that her daughters had been missing since the previous night. Police identified the mother’s acquaintance and babysitter, 42-year-old Lakesha Brown, as the suspect.

Officers hear a child crying inside

During the investigation, officers developed a possible location at 2001 Sylvan Road SW. The department said officers at the location heard a child crying inside a trailer, forced entry and found the children and Brown.

Official Atlanta Police Department post and body-camera video. ThinBlueNews embeds the department’s public post; it did not download or reupload the footage. Open the official post on Facebook.

CBS News Atlanta reported that the body-camera footage shows officers using bolt cutters to open the trailer. The girls, ages 4 years and 11 months, can be heard crying before officers remove them.

Atlanta police said both children were reunited with their mother in good health. ThinBlueNews is limiting identification of the children because they are minors and is not making any medical claim beyond the department’s public update.

Trailer conditions described in arrest warrants

WSB-TV reported that arrest warrants described the trailer as unsuitable for children and alleged that it had no air conditioning while outdoor temperatures reached 97 degrees. The station reported that Brown was being held without bond on charges including kidnapping and cruelty to children.

Those charges are allegations. Brown is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Atlanta police included the same presumption-of-innocence notice with its public post, and WSB-TV reported that the investigation remained ongoing.

The documented outcome is the safe recovery of two young children after officers followed investigative leads, recognized a child’s cry and acted to enter the locked trailer.

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Sources and visual disclosure

Visual note: The Atlanta Police Department’s body-camera footage is embedded from the department’s Facebook post and has not been copied or reuploaded. No clear license was established for using source pixels as a ThinBlueNews featured image, so the featured image is an original, clearly labeled symbolic illustration with no people, agency marks or incident scene.

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