WASHINGTON — An 11-year-old North Carolina girl was found safe in D.C. after she was kidnapped from her home in Charlotte Sunday morning.
At around 8:30 p.m., D.C. police gave chase to a car — a 2005 white Chevrolet Impala with North Carolina plates — matching the description released by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
D.C. police flooded the area after receiving a call from someone who said they had been kidnapped.
NBC Washington reports that the chase started around the Navy Yard and ended in a crash with another vehicle in the area of 1700 Independence Avenue SW.
BREAKING: @LindsayAWatts is gathering info on a chase that ended in a crash near downtown monuments after an AMBER ALERT. More on @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/ZwRNGzT6Q3
— Van Applegate (@VBagate) April 3, 2017
Police arrested the suspect and found 11-year-old Arieyana Simone Forney and another woman in the vehicle.
An Amber Alert was issued for Arieyana after North Carolina police said firefighters responded to a fire in the home where the girl lived with her grandparents, who were her legal guardians. They found two people, a husband and wife, dead inside the home. WBTV reports that the couple were shot.
Maj. Mike Smathers, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, named Curtis Atkinson Jr. as the suspected kidnapper. WSOC-TV reports that police are seeking murder charges against him, as well. Atkinson is the girl’s uncle and the son of the victims. Police do not yet have a possible motive.
Arieyana was taken to a hospital and appears to be OK.
This story is developing. Stay with WTOP for updates.
WTOP’s Lisa Weiner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
