This week, two potentially tragic situations were transformed and turned around, thanks to effective police work, and the sensitivity and awareness of a Good Samaritan.
Uncommon and everyday heroes is the subject of this week's Feel-Good Friday
On Saturday, an Atlanta mother trusted a friend to babysit, and ended up in the nightmare of having her two children kidnapped.
Four-year-old Zola Cooper and her 11-month-old sister, Norah Cooper, were located in the 2000 block of Sylvan Road after an intensive search involving several Atlanta Police Department units.
Police said both girls are in good health.
Thank God, because the situation had the potential to go sideways really quickly.
On Monday,the kidnapper took Zola and Norah to a storage trailer where she was squatting. The woman, now identified as Keisha Brown, obviously did not have legitimate access to this trailer, because she entered the inside of the trailer from the top, not through the padlocked front door. According to 4-year-old Zola's witness account, the kidnapper proceeded to lower her down into the opening, and then instructed Zola to catch her 11-month-old sister.
How is a 4-year-old supposed to do that?! Zola was not able, so the baby ended up landing in whatever detritus was resident in the trailer. Only by the grace of God was the baby unharmed. These children were trapped in a windowless trailer, on a 97-degree day, with a crazy person. Brown did not bother to feed them. The children were obviously overheated, upset, and crying to be rescued.
The children's mother, Elica, gave more detail on Brown.
The girls' mother, Elica Redding, said she met the suspect, Keisha Brown, about a year ago in a mom group where Brown advertised free services for expecting mothers. Redding left her children with the babysitter starting at 10 p.m. last Saturday.
When the children were not returned, Redding called hospitals after Brown claimed they were in a car accident. Hospital staff had no record of them, prompting a 911 call at 10:30 p.m. last Sunday. Police say Brown is also suspected in a 2021 kidnapping of a 4-day-old baby in Alabama, where court records show she missed a court date in May.
The girls were last seen in the area of Jones Avenue Northwest and James P. Brawley Drive Northwest.
Family members told FOX 5 Atlanta that Brown had texted that she was taking the girls to Walmart around 6 p.m. A short time later, Brown allegedly told a family member that she and the children had been involved in some type of crash. The family later lost contact with her.
An Amber Alert was issued as authorities searched for the children, who police said were believed to be in extreme danger.
The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force partnered with Atlanta Police Department, and used technology to track the kidnapper's cell phone to a particular area. The officers had also fielded calls from the area, with reports of children crying.
Two children are home safe.
— FBI Atlanta (@FBIAtlanta) August 18, 2026
Following yesterday’s kidnapping, FBI Atlanta’s Violent Crime Task Force worked closely with the Atlanta Police Department during an urgent, time-sensitive search. Task force personnel located the children and suspect locked inside a hot trailer. The… pic.twitter.com/bYSwZ9gRBB
Two children are home safe.
Following yesterday’s kidnapping, FBI Atlanta’s Violent Crime Task Force worked closely with the Atlanta Police Department during an urgent, time-sensitive search. Task force personnel located the children and suspect locked inside a hot trailer. The children were safely rescued without incident.
This successful outcome demonstrates what is possible when our federal and local law enforcement partners work side by side.
While searching the area, officers heard a baby crying. Lt. Christapher Butler said officers executed an exigent entry into the trailer based on the emergency and found the children alongside the suspect.
READ MORE: 6-Year-Old Boy Pulled From Florida Pool After ICE Officer's Split-Second Decision
Here is the bodycam footage of the dramatic rescue:
WATCH:
Bodycam footage shows police rescuing a 4-year-old girl and her 11-month-old sister from a trailer in Atlanta after their babysitter allegedly kidnapped the pair.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 19, 2026
FBI cell phone technology helped narrow the search — but officers say the sound of a baby crying ultimately led them… pic.twitter.com/rrd861jpB4
Bodycam footage shows police rescuing a 4-year-old girl and her 11-month-old sister from a trailer in Atlanta after their babysitter allegedly kidnapped the pair.
FBI cell phone technology helped narrow the search — but officers say the sound of a baby crying ultimately led them to a trailer where the children were being held, @jonathanserrie reports.
The suspect now faces kidnapping and child cruelty charges. Both children appear to be in good health and have been reunited with their mother.
It's clear that Brown, the kidnapper, is a repeat offender, not to mention an absolute nutter. I am in agreement with the mother Elica Redding: Brown needs to be under the jail or in psychiatric care.
What is pivotal is the quick rescue of the children thanks to the work of the Atlanta Police Dept. and the FBI. In the Fox5 Atlanta segment below, the officers on the scene expressed their motivation as they searched for and worked to retrieve the children, unharmed.
The first three minutes-and-13-seconds are all you need.
WATCH:
On Sunday, in North Carolina, it was the bravery of a 12-year-old girl, and the quick thinking of a Good Samaritan who turned around a horrendous situation and saved this girl from her kidnapper.
A North Carolina girl was allegedly abducted by her friend’s uncle and forced into the woods — before she was found in a ditch and chillingly told a good Samaritan that she had been kidnapped.
The girl, 12, was staying at her neighbor’s home in Lillington – a town 40 miles southwest of Raleigh – for a sleepover on Sunday when she was woken up by 38-year-old Daniel Gear, who is accused of terrorizing her, WNCN reported.
After Gear parked his truck behind a DMV office, and led the girl into the woods, it could have been all over. Yet somehow, the girl managed to escape him, running back through the woods, and into the highway.
Motorist Jennifer Maxwell spotted the girl fleeing the wooded area while she was driving on a stretch of US Highway 421, which runs through the town and in front of the DMV.
The girl, who was shoeless and covered in scratches, “came running out of the woods and down the embankment,” Maxwell, a mom of three, told WRAL.
“She kind of just dropped in the ditch and was just crying hysterically,” Maxwell said. “I rolled down my window, and I was like, ‘Baby, are you okay?’ And she was like, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.’
“And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ She was like, ‘Yes I’m serious. I was kidnapped.”
Maxwell took the girl into her car, called 911, and stayed on the phone with the dispatcher as she drove the girl to a police station.
Maxwell told her dramatic story to local News 17, which includes a prior life-and-death situations where Maxwell was instrumental in saving lives.
WATCH:
HERO: Jennifer Maxwell RESCUED a barefoot, scratched 12-year-old girl who had escaped an alleged kidnapping and collapsed along a Tennessee highway. Cars kept passing, but Maxwell turned around and stopped when nobody else would.pic.twitter.com/s4QIbo0GOL
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) August 19, 2026
“I just thank God that I could be where I was,” she said. “And God knows if that girl didn’t get away, what would have happened.”
Jennifer Maxwell doesn't consider herself a hero; she is just thankful that the girl had the wherewithal to escape her captor, and that she was sensitive to be the right person, at the right place, at the right time.
Editor's Note: At RedState, it's not all about politics and policy. We like to bring attention to what's good in the world, with columns like "Feel-Good Friday," "Start Your Weekend Right," and "Hoge's Heroes."
Support our work! Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member