Girl in Amber Alert found safe in Germany; Parents arrested
A six-month-old baby girl kidnapped in front of a grocery store on Monday morning was rescued by police just over the border on Monday evening. Authorities arrested the girl's biological parents, who were with baby Hannah when they were found together at a holiday park in Germany around 8 p.m., police revealed.
All three were still in Germany while their case was processed, police said. The Netherlands will request extradition.
"Hannah was brought to safety, and she will return to the Netherlands as soon as possible," the investigators on the case said in a joint statement.
Hannah was sitting in a Maxi Cosi when her foster mother took her out of the Lidl on Nieuwstraat Eersel, Noord Brabant. That's when a man approached her, yanked Hannah out of the seat, and fled the scene in a Mercedes-Benz ML 270 just after 9 a.m.
Police later said they believed the biological parents were responsible for the abduction. They were identified as 25-year-old Rowan S., and Kim de L., 26. The incident triggered an Amber Alert that was subsequently shared thousands of times on social media platforms. which police directly credited with providing dozens of tips including the one that led authorities to a small German town.
Later in the day, police were tipped off that a man matching the suspect's description and the ML 270 were spotted at a holiday park in Bad Bentheim, Germany, police said. Though the German town sits on the border with the Netherlands, it is over 200 kilometers driving distance from the Lidl where the abduction took place.
Dutch and German authorities surveilled the holiday park following the tip, and identified the suspects. A "cross-border police team" rescued Hannah and made the arrest.
The Amber Alert was cancelled by 9:15 p.m. on Monday. Over twenty police detectives in the Netherlands were assigned to the case, and authorities were in contact with their counterparts in Belgium and Germany.
The girl was reportedly taken away from her birth parents for fear of her safety. Multiple people have issued complaints against them, and they are suspected of embezzlement, fraud, and making threats, the Eindhovens Dagblad reported.