Infant Found Alive Reunited With Parents, Suspect Arrested

The Wisconsin infant found alive in Iowa, Kayden Powell, has been reunited with her worried parents and is on his way home, according to an update from affiliate NBC 15 News based out of Madison in the state capital.

The case — which attracted national attention — is still under investigation by local and federal authorities.

Kristen Smith, accused of taking the infant who was found alive on Friday at gas station in Iowa, has been arrested.

Smith — who pretended to be pregnant to carry out the kidnapping — allegedly stole her half-sister’s five-day-old baby from her home.

Prosecutors in Madison charged Smith, of Denver, Colorado with kidnapping hours after the infant was miraculously found alive in the harsh winter conditions.

According to the affidavit, police found a prosthetic pregnancy belly in Smith’s car along with baby clothes, a car seat and a stroller, but no sign of Kayden, when they caught up with the woman, who intended to take the baby to Colorado according to Beloit police officers who interviewed Brianna Marshall, the baby’s mother.

As reported by The Inquisitr on Friday, Smith called Marshall’s grandmother just before 5 am while Beloit Police officers were at the home. Smith reportedly told an officer that Marshall and her boyfriend planned to move to Denver along with the infant.

Federal, state, and local authorities had been searching for the missing infant since Thursday and put out several Amber Alerts in the area.

Police in West Branch, Iowa intercepted Smith, but there was no sign of Kayden.

While in custody, Smith granted investigators authority to search her cell phone and Facebook page, where they found evidence that she had faked the pregnancy and claimed to have given birth on February 5.

Rock County Sheriff, Bob Spoden said authorities searched Smith’s likely route of travel back to Colorado, which took her from Beloit — close to the Illinois border– Illinois, and Iowa where they finally caught up to her.

The West Branch Sheriff and other police officers had been searching the areas along I-80, but were not “directed” to search the gas station

“We’re celebrating (the chief) as a hero today,” Milwaukee FBI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge G.B. Jones said.

After the infant was found alive, he was transported to an Iowa City hospital where he was reunited with his parents.

The baby’s great-uncle, told The Associated Press he came home on Thursday night to find a black SUV with Illinois license plates parked in front of his house. Inside he found his mother, the baby’s mother and father, and a woman he had never met, who was introduced to him as Briana Marshall’s sister.

The man said he went to the basement and in the morning woke up to find the baby and Smith gone, the mother refusing to believe she had taken him.

Kayden’s bassinet was placed next to his parents’ bed and a pairing knife was found on the floor nearby.

“I could have woke up to a bloody mess,” Bennett said.

Smith appears to go by several aliases and has had run-ins with the law in different states. Police arrested her on a warrant from Texas. If convicted she faces life in prison for kidnapping the infant that was found alive outside in the middle of winter.