Page 5 - ARUBA TODAY

A5
U.S. NEWS Wednesday 6 June 2018
Kidnapped baby back with mom;

sex offender dad arrested

By MARTHA WAGGONER formula. I'm panicking," she
and BEN FINLEY said in the call released
Associated Press Tuesday.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A man called 911 to say
Following an anonymous he heard from someone
tip, police rescued a who saw Kennedy on the
kidnapped 7-month-old side of a road changing
girl and arrested her father a tire of a car that had
at a mobile home in North been spray-painted black,
Carolina, nearly two days while a different woman
after he took the infant from said a friend called her
her mother at knifepoint after seeing father and
in Virginia, authorities said daughter go inside a
Tuesday. home. The names of the
A sheriff's deputy entered callers were deleted in all In this image provided by the Randolph County Sheriff, Randolph
County Sheriff Deputy Jimmy Barnes holds 7-month-old Emma
the mobile home and the recordings. Grace Kennedy after her father Carl Ray Kennedy was arrested
"immediately grabbed her The same woman from the Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in Randleman, N.C.
up and shielded her with first call reached out to Associated Press
great care," Randolph 911 again to tell operators
County Sheriff Robert Kennedy might leave soon that alluded to hurting couple of years ago at a
Graves told reporters hours if they didn't hurry. Murphy or Emma, such as, nursing home, her sister
later. "I've got somebody "I'm going to blow up your said. She was a certified
Emma Grace Kennedy watching making sure family's house" or "If I can't nursing assistant and he
"had a great smile on her everything is OK. I don't be with the baby, you can't was a patient in poor
face and appeared to think he would hurt Emma either." health, reportedly from a
be in good shape and either, but you know," she Kennedy lost custody of boating accident, Metzger
certainly a great smile on said. the girl a couple of months said.
our deputy's face as well," Virginia State Police had ago, Metzger said, and had They lived together for
Graves said. issued an Amber Alert early been harassing Murphy about a year and a half
The moment brought an Monday stating the infant and her family in person, in Randleman, she said.
end to the massive search was in "extreme danger." by phone and on social After they split up, Murphy
for the girl and her father, Metzger said Kennedy had media since then. moved in with her mother
Carl Ray Kennedy, a said things in recent months Kennedy met Murphy a in Danville.q
51-year-old sex offender
with a long criminal history.
He had painted his gold
Suzuki black to try to evade
capture, police said.
Emma and her mother,
Kristen Murphy, were
reunited at a local hospital
where the baby was
examined, said Murphy's
sister, Amy Wyatt Metzger.
Emma is "totally fine and
healthy. Everything has
checked out just fine,"
Metzger said.
Kennedy didn't say much
when he was arrested, the
sheriff said. "He seemed like
somebody who had been
on the run, who was tired, I
guess," Graves said.
The rescue and arrest
occurred in Randleman,
North Carolina, about 65
miles (105 kilometers) south
of Danville, Virginia, where
Emma was abducted
Sunday evening at a gas
station, police said.
Four 911 calls about 10
minutes apart led police
to Kennedy. One woman
told the operator Kennedy
called her "wanting me to
get her some diapers or