Virginia infant found safe, mother charged with kidnapping

A mother has been charged in connection with an Amber Alert for a 10-month-old baby who was believed to be in “extreme danger,” Virginia State Police said Wednesday.

Police issued an alert for baby Cedar Samuel Griffith on Tuesday after a child abduction reportedly occurred around 8:10 p.m. ET on Monday. The warning urged people to be on the lookout for a 30-year-old woman named Ashley Jordan Griffith, who police said was the woman “suspected” of kidnapping the baby.

On Wednesday, the Madison County, Kentucky, Sheriff’s Office said Ashley Griffith was arrested after a motorist stop around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said Newsweek that Griffith is the child’s mother.

Further information about the arrest, including why Griffith allegedly took the child, was not known as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Deputy Shane Johnson made contact with the female driver with a small child. The driver, identified as Ashley Griffith, stated that she needed a jump start for her vehicle,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a post on Facebook.

Police discovered the Virginia Amber Alert after further investigation of the vehicle and arrested her on charges of resisting arrest and fleeing out of state. She was being held at the Madison County Detention Center and the baby was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies, the post said.

Meanwhile, Virginia State Police updated their alert to say that “both missing individuals have been safely located.”

Before Griffith’s arrest, the child was last seen on Daniel Boone Road in Gate City, Virginia, which is north of the Tennessee border. The two eventually found themselves on the 5800 block of Battlefield Memorial Highway in Berea, Kentucky, more than 160 miles from Gate City.

Madison County is located in central Kentucky and includes Richmond and the southern suburbs of Lexington.

The Amber Alert was first issued just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. “The child is believed to be in extreme danger and was last seen on Daniel Boone Road in Gate City, VA,” it said.

Amber Alerts began in 1996 after the abduction and death of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas.

Once law enforcement determines that a child has been abducted and the abduction meets Amber Alert criteria, police notify broadcasters and federal transportation officials of the abduction, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs.

According to the Justice Department, the program is believed to have contributed to the recovery of 1,200 children. In 2022, 227 Amber Alerts were issued in the United States.