WIS. Kidnapping: FBI Expert Testifies Against Woman Who Allegedly Left Infant In Tote In Sub-Zero Temps


In the case of a Colorado woman who is accused of kidnapping an infant in Wisconsin before eventually abandoning it in a plastic tote behind a gas station in sub-zero temperatures, an FBI expert testified yesterday, revealing new evidence.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Kristin Smith (31) is accused of kidnapping newborn Kayden Powell and attempting to take him to Colorado. On the way, Smith threw baby Kayden in a plastic tote and abandoned the baby behind an Iowa gas station in sub-zero February temperatures.

Mathew Noel, Smith’s lawyer in the kidnapping trial, said that Smith had received permission from Kayden’s father, Bruce Powell, to take the boy to Colorado because the boy’s father said he and the boy’s mother would join them soon to start a new life together. Noel said in the kidnapping trial’s opening statements that Powell told Smith not to wake Kayden’s mother, Brianna Marshall, when she took the baby in the early morning hours of February 6th, because the mother was recovering from a painful Cesarean section.

Smith – who is the half-sister of the baby’s mother, Brianna Marshall – was arrested in Iowa as police frantically searched for baby Kayden.

In testimony given at the kidnapping trial, Brianna Marshall said that she’d been estranged from her half-sister for more than three years. However, when she found out Marshall was pregnant, Smith contacted her via Facebook, and their relationship was on the mend. Soon, Smith also claimed that she was pregnant as well, Marshall said on the stand in the kidnapping case.

After Marshall gave birth to Kayden on February 1st via Cesarean section, she had to stay in the hospital for several days due to complications. When she was almost ready to leave, Smith showed up unexpectedly from Colorado. Testimony given at the kidnapping trial stated that Smith offered Marshall and the baby’s father, Powell, an opportunity to come live with her in Colorado where they could get a “fresh start,” according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

On the morning of February 6th, Marshall woke up to find that both Smith and baby Kayden were gone, and no one knew where the baby was.

In the kidnapping trial’s opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger said that when Smith found out the police were looking for her for questioning, she dumped baby Kayden in a plastic tote behind a gas station and left him there in the freezing weather, intending to retrieve him later.

Police found that Smith had an active warrant on her from Texas and arrested her. For over thirty hours Smith refused to tell authorities where the kidnapped baby was. Finally, West Branch, Iowa police found the kidnapped baby in the icy tote behind the gas station.

Remarkably, the kidnapped infant was still alive.

Yesterday, an FBI agent testified in the kidnapping case, saying that visits to websites about how to construct fake pregnancy bellies were found on Smith’s computer. Evidence was also found concerning visits to websites about how to get a forged birth certificate for a newborn and how to breastfeed an adopted baby, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

If Smith is convicted, she could face a sentence of life in prison for kidnapping.

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