Two Missouri children who went missing last year were found last week at a Florida grocery store with their alleged abductor, police said.
The High Springs Police Department said that the children were discovered shopping at a Winn-Dixie store and learned that the owner of the vehicle, 36-year-old Kristi Nicole Gilley, was a fugitive.
“On February 1, 2023, HSPD located two abducted Missouri children and their abductor after a routine vehicle tag check indicated the vehicle owner was a fugitive,” police said in a Facebook post. “Officers located the trio shopping in Winn Dixie, after disguising their identities.”
Gilley is the noncustodial mother of Brooke and Adrian Gilley, who are 11 and 12 years old, respectively. According to the police, they were abducted on March 15, 2022.
Officers found Gilley and the two kids shopping at the Winn-Dixie supermarket over a year later. Police said the group had concealed their identities.
“Brooke and Adrian Gilley have been missing since 3/15/2022 and may be in the company of their non-custodial mother,” the post continued. “We are working with National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to bring them home safely!”
Gilley was detained and arrested on an active kidnapping warrant out of Clay County, Missouri, located just north of Kansas City, while Brooke and Adrian were turned over to the Florida Department of Children and Families Services. They will be reunited with their birth family.
“The children were turned over to the Florida Department of Children and Families Services and will be reunited with their birth family,” police concluded.
The news received wild responses online, with many theorizing about the kids’ relationship with Gilley.
“Gilley is described as the non-custodial mother. Non custodial is usually a term given to a birth parent that has lost all custody rights, but it says the kids will be returned to their birth parents. I’m wondering if they were placed in foster care or given up for adoption and the birth parents came back and won custody in court. Either way, I hope they get the help and love they need,” wrote one netizen.
“Gilley is their biological mother that didn’t have custody. So exactly WHO are the children going to be reunited with?” wondered another.
