Newborn kidnapping suspect indicted

BELOIT, Wis., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The woman who allegedly kidnapped a newborn from a Wisconsin home was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that could send her to prison for life.

Kristen Smith, 31, has been charged with kidnapping 5-day-old Kayden Powell on February 6. Kayden's mother, Smith's half-sister Brianna Marshall, woke up in the middle of the night to find her son gone, and called the police.

Police caught up with Smith in West Branch, Iowa, where they found baby clothes, a stroller and a car seat in her car, but no Kayden. She denied any knowledge of Kayden's whereabouts.

After a search of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, police found Kayden 29 hours later behind a gas station in West Branch, about 500 yards from where Smith was arrested. Despite below-zero temperatures, Kayden was wrapped in blankets and was alive and healthy.

Smith faces unrelated fraud and theft charges in Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas.

U.S. marshals are expected to transfer Smith from where she is being held in Iowa to Wisconsin, where she will face trial. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

[Janesville Gazette]