2 teenagers arrested for stealing vehicle, kidnapping 6-year-old in Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Two teenagers have been charged with stealing a vehicle and kidnapping a 6-year-old in Savannah.

It was after 10 pm Thursday night when witnesses say the missing 6-year-old was walking on 35th Street alone and crying. That’s when one woman said she knew something was wrong.

“When you see a child out missing, the first thing you want to know is what’s going on. He was walking up the street crying, you want to know what’s going on.”

Kadeidra Mutcherson says she was on her way home last night in the area of 35th Street and Ogeechee Road when she saw a child crying. She says she didn’t know what to think.

“I didn’t think he was kidnapped, I just thought he was a random kid in the neighborhood, you see a lot of kids walking. He said no, I don’t know this area, I’m not familiar with the area,” said Mutcherson.

Mutcherson says that’s when she started to worry.

“I asked him where is his mom? He says he doesn’t know he’s lost. Somebody dropped him off, he had just woken up out of a car.”

Savannah Police say they responded to a stolen car with a child inside after 10 p.m. Thursday in the eastside of town, near Skidaway Road - were Mutcherson saw the child on 35th Street is about 10 minutes away.

She says the boy told her he was forced to get out of the car.

“He said, ‘I was asleep.’ So, I said, who were you with. He said, ‘I don’t know, they told me to get out, I was in the car.”

Savannah Police had posted a photo of the missing boy online which helped Mutcherson and her dad identify him within minutes.

“That’s how we knew that this was the child that was missing. It was all over Facebook before we had called the police, a post was already out about him.”

Police arrested and charged two 17-year-olds, Jaidyn Green and Arkier Johnson, in relation to the incident. They both face multiple felonies including kidnapping, cruelty to children, and theft by taking. Johnson is also charged with DUI and possession of a firearm.

Muthcerson says she’s thankful to play a part in getting the boy home safely.

“We actually saw each other at the right time. He was coming up the street, I saw him. God does everything for a reason, it happened for the best.”

Both Johnson and Green remain in custody at the Chatham County jail.

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