Police body camera video shows the tense rescue of two young sisters who were found in Georgia after a babysitter allegedly kidnapped them.
Atlanta police had been searching for 42-year-old Lakesha Brown after the children’s mother reported that 4-year-old Zola Cooper and her 11-month-old sister, Norah, were last seen with Brown at around 6pm on Saturday.
Their mother, Elicia Redding, told investigators she had hired Brown to watch the girls for the first time.
Redding contacted police at about 10.30pm on Sunday, saying Brown had not brought Zola and Norah back by the agreed return time of 10pm the night before.
Authorities quickly launched a search for the missing 4-year-old and infant, and an Amber Alert was issued as concern for the sisters grew.
An arrest warrant obtained by WSBTV stated that Brown’s cellphone pinged at a location roughly five miles from the place where the girls had last been seen.
When Atlanta Police Department officers arrived at that location, they said they heard a child crying inside a trailer parked in a lot beneath the intense Georgia sun.
Around 12.30pm on Monday, nearly 14 hours after the missing persons report was filed and two days after the sisters were last seen, Atlanta officers forced their way into the trailer and rescued the girls.
Zola Cooper, 4, and her 11-month-old sister were rescued by officers with the Atlanta Police Department on Monday after they were allegedly kidnapped by their babysitter
Norah, the 11-month-old, was rescued alongside her sister from a sweltering trailer after their mother had reported them missing the prior evening
The girls’ babysitter, Lakesha Brown, has been charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children
Body camera footage shows an officer trying to break the lock on the exterior of the trailer with a cinder block before another officer approaches with bolt cutters.
About half a dozen officers wearing body armor and armed with rifles can be seen throughout the footage as police broke into the trailer and aggressively ordered Brown not to move and to keep her hands.
Officers can be seen entering the trailer and passing the two young girls between them to safety before grabbing Brown and cuffing her.
Investigators described conditions inside the trailer as ‘unclean and unsuitable’ in Brown’s arrest warrant and said temperatures inside reached a sweltering 97F.
Zola and Norah were soon ‘reunited with their mother in good health,’ according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Brown was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Monday and charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, according to the jail’s records.
The records also show that the alleged kidnapper has two other outstanding warrants in Paulding County, Georgia, and Jefferson County, Alabama.
In the Alabama case, Brown was accused of kidnapping a four-day-old newborn Kamarion Taylor in 2021.
Body camera footage shows officers attempting to break into the trailer with a cinder block before using a bolt cutter to open it
Officers shouted at Brown to keep her hands up and not move before they entered the trailer to rescue the girls
Norah is pictured getting passed between heavily armed officers to safety. Brown is also accused of kidnapping a newborn in Alabama in 2021
Brown had allegedly agreed to help the newborn’s mother, Brionna Washington, care for the baby before she disappeared with the infant after Washington woke up from a nap. The newborn was eventually recovered safely by police.
The alleged kidnapper pleaded not guilty in the case and was scheduled to stand trial in May, but she failed to appear in court, according to prosecutors.
In the Paulding County case, Brown was accused last year of obstructing a police investigation and lying to detectives after they were called to conduct a welfare check on a baby the woman allegedly gave birth to and had gone missing.
Officers searched Brown’s home in August 2025 after the father of the allegedly missing child had received a photo of the baby and said the infant ‘did not look alive,’ according to court documents reviewed by FOX 5.
Police did not find any signs of an infant other than a package of diapers for a newborn that had a few missing, which Brown claimed to have used for a different six-month-old boy living in the house.
On a second visit to the house later that day, the diapers were gone. Brown denied recently giving birth, but photos obtained by investigators showed her appearing pregnant and texts showed family members discussing her giving birth to a girl.
A sheriff’s deputy also noted the presence of two burn barrels in the home’s yard, one of which had ‘a lot of maggots’ around the top of burned material.
The police report does not explicitly mention any connection between the burn barrels and the allegedly missing child, and it does not confirm whether Brown gave birth.
Officers also passed Zola to safety. Both girls were ‘reunited with their mother in good health,’ the Atlanta Police Department said
Jail records show Brown has two other outstanding warrants in Jefferson County, Alabama, and Paulding County, Georgia. She is pictured getting cuffed in the trailer
The case was initially classified as ‘suspicious activity,’ but a warrant for Brown’s arrest in connection with the welfare check was issued in December 2025. It is unclear what led to the change or what charges Brown was wanted for.
Although Brown is currently being held in the Fulton County Jail after her recent arrest, Alabama prosecutors have sought to have her extradited to the state so she can stand trial for her 2021 kidnapping charge.
It remains to be seen whether prosecutors in Paulding County will also request that she be transferred to their jurisdiction.
