Missing Toddler Found Unharmed

CHICAGO —  A toddler who was taken from a Greyhound bus station on Christmas Eve was found unharmed in West Virginia on Thursday, and FBI officials say they’ve charged a woman with her kidnapping.

Sixteen-month-old Jasmine Anderson was found at a residence in the town of Williamson, W.Va. The child was being evaluated but appeared to be healthy, authorities said.

Police and the FBI said Sheila Annalee Matthews, 33, was charged with one count of federal kidnapping. She was taken into custody Thursday afternoon on a warrant issued in Chicago.

According to police, Matthews had told her boyfriend she had a baby while he was in prison. When he was released, she told him her mother was caring for the baby in Chicago.

“When she went to the Greyhound station that night, she was looking to abduct a baby,” said Philip Cline, chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department.

Police said Matthews and her boyfriend took the toddler to his relatives’ house in Chicago on Christmas Day and posed for a photo with the girl. They left for West Virginia the next day.

Meanwhile, their hosts saw a photograph of Jasmine on television and called police.

“We’re really grateful to everyone who helped,” said Marcella Anderson, the child’s mother, at a news conference Thursday. “Especially the family members who were brave enough to come forward and had really good hearts, and God bless everyone.”

Matthews is scheduled to appear today in U.S. magistrate court in Charleston, W.Va., said Joe Ciccarelli, spokesman for the FBI’s Charleston office.

Her boyfriend was questioned and released, said Randy Coleman, a spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

Marcella Anderson said she and her two daughters were waiting for a bus to Milwaukee on Monday when a woman with a tattoo on her neck approached the family and offered to give them a ride home.

The woman suggested that she hold Jasmine while Anderson took her other daughter with her to the ticket counter. Anderson was waiting in line for a ticket refund when the woman disappeared with the toddler, Anderson said.

There was no immediate word Thursday on when Anderson and her daughter would be reunited.

The abduction set off a massive search that involved about 100 Chicago police officers.

Jasmine’s father, Greg Knowles, arrived in Chicago on Wednesday from Milwaukee. He was questioned by FBI agents but police said he was not a suspect in Jasmine’s disappearance.