VAN BUREN -- Police located a 3-year-old girl in Illinois on Friday night after she disappeared from her great-grandmother's bed in Arkansas.
Layla Rae Munholland was found safe Friday night in Grayville, Ill., said Sgt. Daniel Perry with the Van Buren Police Department. Her mother, Chelsea Nichole Munholland, 24, was taken into custody by Illinois State Police. Perry said Chelsea Munholland was trying to get to Kentucky.
Perry said they tracked Chelsea Munholland using a stolen credit card and notified police agencies in front of their route.
Police spokesman Lt. Stephen Staggs said police had evidence that between 10:30 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday, Chelsea Munholland climbed in the window of her grandmother's home at 214 Cane Hill St. and took her daughter.
Layla's great-grandmother, Gloria Perry, has custody of the child and told police that she and Layla went to sleep in the same bed at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. She awoke about 5 a.m. Friday to discover Layla gone, a police news release said. Chelsea Munholland lived across the street and two or three houses down from Perry's home.
The screen on a window at Perry's home had been cut and the window opened.
Staggs said investigators had evidence that Chelsea Munholland and possibly her boyfriend, Herbert Allen Thomas, 30, were involved with taking the child.
The FBI and Arkansas State Police participated in the investigation, Staggs said. State police had issued a Morgan Nick Amber Alert on Friday.
Crawford County Circuit Court records showed that a petition to revoke a $10,000 bond on Munholland was filed Friday on grounds that she was suspected of committing kidnapping and residential burglary.
The records showed that Munholland was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony theft, drug paraphernalia possession and failure to appear charges and misdemeanor theft by receiving and drug possession charges.
Staggs said Munholland's deadline for reporting to prison had been approaching.
State Desk on 07/16/2016