Baby Reunited With Family After AMBER Alert

OGDEN, Utah — A Utah AMBER Alert has been canceled after a 10-month-old girl was found safely. The girl was in the back seat of a car when it was stolen in Ogden.

Officials with the Utah Division of Emergency Management confirmed the infant’s return around 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The victim was identified by police as 10-month-old Amila Spratley-Apke.

JUST NOW: baby Anika, reunited with mom, dad, other family members. pic.twitter.com/obPLXGBPJK

— Mike Anderson (@mikeandersonKSL) November 4, 2020

The alert was first issued around 10:45 a.m. after a vehicle was stolen near the 200 West block of Patterson Street in Ogden. Chief Randy Watt with the Ogden Police Department said the alert helped generate several sightings and reports of the vehicle.

Watt said the girl’s mother had stopped to see an acquaintance.

“Overwhelming,” Breesha Spratley said. “My children are my greatest gift, and it’s so scary that … no one thinks it will happen to them. No one thinks that for a second, if you leave your kids or if you do something, that they’re going to get taken.”

Police said Spratley left the baby with another adult in the car while she ran inside to use the bathroom.

“And she ran up to the door to ask them for a cigarette and stepped inside a little bit, and by the time she stepped out, they had already gone,” Spratley said.

The vehicle was taken from a location less than a mile from Interstate 15 to the west and U.S. Highway 89 to the east. It wasn’t clear what direction the driver fled the scene, and the Utah Department of Public Safety’s helicopter was dispatched to the area.

Father Collin Apke got a call from police while he was at work.

“The police had called me on a private number and said, ‘Hey, do you know your daughter’s missing, do you know what’s going on?'” Apke said. “I proceeded to tell my boss, like ‘I have to go. I’ve got to go right now.'”

Watt said police received reports of a baby being left in a car seat on the porch of a Plain City home at 12:37 p.m., and the vehicle sped off.

“As of now, there is no known connection of the house to the suspects,” Watt said.

“I feel relieved, but I’m still just sick to my stomach,” Apke added. “Just the thought of it even happening is horrible. I don’t wish that on anybody.”

That report allowed the DPS helicopter to move to the area and locate the vehicle on Plain City roads.

Nearby deputies attempted to stop the vehicle, but it sped off. Watt said deputies backed off and allowed the DPS helicopter to continue to follow the vehicle, which ended up offroad.

Two suspects were taken into custody after a short foot pursuit.

Watt said a 21-year-old Roddy Montes and Angel Jusso, 34, were taken into custody and would be booked into jail on car theft and kidnapping charges.

Watt said they are not sure if the suspects knew there was a child in the vehicle, “but they definitely knew not long after.”

Crews from the Ogden Police Department, Weber County Sheriff’s Office, FBI Child Exploitation Task Force and Utah Department of Public Safety responded.