DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — A missing 3-year-old boy from Tennessee and a 16-year-old girl from Kentucky were found safe in Southern California and the younger child’s father was arrested, authorities said.
Deputies found Noah Clare and his cousin, Amber Clare, Thursday morning in Dana Point, south of Los Angeles, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter.
Late Wednesday the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released surveillance camera images from nearby San Clemente, California, showing what appeared to be Noah and Amber along with 35-year-old Jacob Clare.
“At 8:50 a.m. a concerned resident called to report a young boy matching the description of Noah Clare. OC Sheriff responded and took Jacob Clare into custody,” the sheriff’s department tweeted Thursday.
No charges were immediately announced and it wasn’t known if Jacob Clare has an attorney. He’s being held in California pending extradition to Tennessee, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said at a Thursday afternoon news conference.
Authorities previously said that Jacob Clare was wanted for aggravated kidnapping and custodial interference and could be armed. No weapon was immediately found but detectives were still going through his possessions, Barnes said.
Noah was reported missing by his mother on Nov. 7 after Jacob Clare, her ex-boyfriend and the boy’s father, didn’t return the child to her home in Gallatin, Tennessee, at the end of a scheduled visitation, the Nashville Tennessean reported.
Amber Clare was reported missing by the Beaver Dam Police Department in Ohio County, Kentucky, according to the Tennessean.
The parents of Amber and Noah were traveling to Southern California and would be reunited with their children Thursday evening, Barnes said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported Jacob Clare was driving a silver Subaru Outback, which authorities believe he purchased a week before Noah was reported missing. The Subaru, loaded with clothing and camping gear, was located by license plate readers in Arizona earlier this week.
The car was found abandoned in San Clemente last Saturday.
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