Good Samaritans rush to help Houston mother after carjacker takes off with her car and 2 kids

Briana Conner Image
Thursday, February 16, 2023
Good Samaritans help mother after thief takes her car with her 2 kids
A mother had picked up her kids from school and was stopping for gas when in a split second, a man took off with her car and children, police said.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston police are asking for help to find a man accused of stealing a woman's car with her two young sons in the back seat.

The mother asked to remain unidentified out of fear for her family's safety. The boys were found safe thanks to a deliveryman the children's mother called an angel in disguise.

The woman had her 6-month-old in the car and had just picked up her 6-year-old son, who has autism, from school when she stopped for gas. The mother said she had only turned her back for a few seconds at the Murphy Express on South Post Oak Road on Jan. 30 when the unimaginable happened.

Cameras captured an image of the man Houston police say jumped in her car and drove off toward the Willow Meadows neighborhood with her children inside.

"I can't even explain what I felt," she said. "Just pure terror."

Hearing her screams, a stranger let her get in his SUV. They tried, unsuccessfully, to follow the thief.

"When I was chasing him, I'm not thinking he dropped my kids off somewhere. I'm thinking he wants to take my kids to other people. He wants to, heaven forbid, kill my kids," she recalled.

Fearing the worst, she had no idea the carjacker threw her kids out in the neighborhood, where she says a FedEx deliveryman found them cold and covered in mud.

"I hope God blesses him in every single way," she said, thinking about what could have happened.

The deliveryman walked the kids to nearby Trafton Academy, where they called 911. Police were able to reunite the family shortly after that. The relief, she said, has been short-lived since the criminal hasn't been caught.

"I want him held accountable to the highest extent. I want him to remember... Just as much as my son will remember his face, I want him to remember my son telling him, 'I want my mommy. I want my mommy.' I want him to feel the sadness. I want him to feel angry at himself. I want him to feel everything, because for what? Just for a joy ride?" she said.

She says the man wound up ditching her car, but he stole everything in it, down to the kids' car seats. There is a $5,000 reward for information that leads to his arrest on kidnapping and auto theft charges. You can submit a tip to Crime Stoppers anonymously.

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