Kidnapped NC girl found safe in DC

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.

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.

Abigail Constantino

Abigail Constantino started her journalism career writing for a local newspaper in Fairfax County, Virginia. She is a graduate of American University and The George Washington University.

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