Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Police find 3-year-old abducted from home

Child was unharmed; two suspects sought

- Annysa Johnson and Karen Herzog

The 3-year-old child who was abducted at gunpoint from her home on the city’s north side early Monday was found safe about seven hours later, according to police.

Police said Phoenix “Mariah” Dickens was found unharmed around 9:45 a.m. near North 20th Street and West Highland Avenue. But the suspects remained at large.

The child’s baby sitter said a police officer found her in the bushes outside an apartment complex at 1150 N. 20th St.

Police have not provided a motive in the abduction that prompted an early morning Amber Alert.

“I heard about it around 7 a.m., and I thought, just drop her off anywhere, someone will see her,” said baby sitter Olonda Delarosa, who rushed first to the child’s home, then to the apartment complex when she learned she had been found there.

A family member texted Delarosa a picture of the child being carried by a police officer. When Delarosa showed the picture to others waiting near the little girl’s home, several hopped into their cars and raced from the home to the scene where she was found.

The child’s father, Mario Dickens, appeared visibly relieved as he spoke to a reporter from WITI-TV. He said he spoke to his daughter in a video phone call and thanked Milwaukee police for finding her.

“She is safe. I seen her on FaceTime. She just called me and said, ‘Hey, Daddy.’ We’re just excited to get to her,” Dickens said.

“Police did a great job. Milwaukee police, we just want to thank you. Thank the community . ... Without everyone’s help, this would not be possible to recover her.”

The child was taken around 2:30 a.m. from her home near North 62nd Street and West Hampton Avenue by two men who fled in a red van and a dark-colored sedan with tinted windows.

Police tape surrounded an area near an apartment complex between North 19th and North 20th streets and West

Juneau and West Highland avenues for about two hours late Monday morning, as officers searched a building in the apartment complex. An officer holding an assault rifle was perched beside the building, behind a bush.

Other officers were seen going in and out of the building, one leaving with a paper bag. A canine officer entered the building around 11:15 a.m., and drug enforcemen­t officers also were on the scene.

A maintenanc­e worker leaving the apartment complex around noon said he had been called to the building to unlock the basement. “They were looking for the guy who took the baby,” he said.

Police issued an Amber Alert around 6 a.m. and said the suspects were not believed to be related to the child.

Officers cordoned off the street and initially searched the area in the 4800 block of North 62nd Street.

Several residents gathered outside the police tape.

Among those waiting for word was Ruby Boggens, who doesn’t know the family, but wanted to help.

“If there’s a search party, I’m first in line. Whatever I can do. Why would anyone take that baby? It doesn’t make sense,’” she said, tearfully. “I’ll just stand here and let the family know we care. We care in Milwaukee. We care.”

Delarosa, the child’s day care provider, described her as “very, very outgoing, loving and caring.” She said when she arrived at the scene where the child was found, she was able to hold her. “I told her you’re famous, Mariah. She was smiling.”

Police described the suspects as a black male 30 to 33 years old, 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-3 inches tall with a thin build and wearing a light-over-dark-colored Jordan hoodie; and a black male, about 5-foot-7, 150 pounds, slim build, short hair and dark beard, last seen wearing a V-neck T-shirt.

Anyone who has informatio­n regarding their whereabout­s or identities is asked to call Milwaukee Police Department’s Sensitive Crimes Division at (414) 935-7405.

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Phoenix Dickens

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