ST. LOUIS – Police said they followed the sound of screams in the rescue of a 6-year-old girl last week in north St. Louis City.
Two neighbors said they were there when first responders took down the suspect.
“They just came and tackled her, basically; just came up out of nowhere,” Marshall Holloway said.
A woman identified herself as Chef Nicy added, “Police were like, ‘Get down!’ She got arrested and they took the baby.”
Their quiet street was suddenly swarming with police activity after the reported kidnapping. According to a police spokesperson, the kidnapping happened on Camellia Avenue in the Penrose neighborhood.
Police allege Reonna Bernice Crawford, 26, grabbed the child from her mother and siblings and threatened the family with a gun.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s probable cause statement, a driver stopped to intervene until Crawford reportedly pointed a gun at the driver, who sped away.
The court records allege Crawford dragged the child into a home and tied her hands and taped her mouth. Police described hearing the child’s screams before finding Crawford and the child outside.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office charged Crawford with eight felony counts including kidnapping and unlawful possession of a firearm because of an alleged prior felony conviction of armed criminal action.
These neighbors said it’s out of character for the defendant.
“It was just weird because she’s a nurturing person to me,” Nicy said, adding that she thinks we’ll find in court that it’s a misunderstanding.
“The mom let her go with the child and, you know, people get mad at each other, and she got mad and was like, ‘I want my baby,’ and she was like, ‘I’m not going to give you your baby,’ and it was one of them situations, but it wasn’t no full-blown kidnapping.”
Police had no comment, citing the ongoing investigation. FOX 2 could not reach the defendant as she’s in custody and does not have an attorney yet listed. We should learn more at a detention hearing set for Oct. 28.
