Kidnapping suspect is denied jail release
Request asked for move to sober living home
A federal magistrate judge has denied a request by a homeless woman to be released pending her October trial on charges that she stole a Columbus mother’s car and kidnapped twin infant boys inside in December, launching a four-day search before both children were recovered.
Nalah T. Jackson’s federal public defender argued Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Columbus that the 24-year-old could be safely released to Cheryl’s House of Hope, a sober living home in Chillicothe, pending trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers agreed with the federal prosecutors that Jackson is a danger to the community and poses a flight risk. Deavers ordered Jackson to remain incarcerated until her trial, which is currently scheduled for Oct. 10.
If convicted, Jackson faces 20 years to life in prison on each of the two kidnapping counts.
The kidnapping charges
The federal kidnapping charges are from Dec. 19, 2022, when Columbus police say Jackson stole a running 2010 Honda from outside a Donatos Pizza in the Short North with five-month-old twin boys Ky’air and Kason Thomas inside. Their mother had run inside the pizza shop to get a Door Dash order for delivery.
Ky’air was found the following morning by a passerby in the parking lot of the Dayton International Airport. Kason was recovered on Dec. 22 in his mother’s car in the parking lot of an Indianapolis pizza shop, hours after Jackson had been arrested by Indianapolis police. The arrest and Kason’s recovery were due to the efforts of two women cousins who alerted them.
Ky’air died from unrelated circumstances on Jan. 29. The Franklin County Coroner’s Office ruled in March that Ky’air’s death was the result of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death and that an unsafe sleep environment was a significant factor in the death.
The detention hearing
During the hearing in U.S. District Court in Columbus on Friday, Cheryl Beverly, operator of Cheryl’s House of Hope, testified she could admit Jackson into her facility.
Beverly said Jackson had previously received services through the nonprofit and Beverly knows her.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Stacey Macdonald said during the hearing that while Jackson is receiving some medications, she is not receiving adequate mental health care in the Franklin County jail and has been placed at times in solitary confinement.
In response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Litton said Cheryl’s House of Hope is not a secure facility and if she were placed there, she would likely leave, leading to another manhunt.
At times during the hearing, Jackson shook her head while Litton described Jackson’s many run-ins with the law, times she did not appear in court and the “heinous” kidnapping of the twins for which she is charged.
Deavers said she is willing to work with the jail to make sure Jackson gets the medications she needs, but she must stay behind bars. jlaird@dispatch.com @Lairdwrites