One of Columbus twin boys involved in December kidnapping dies

Mother says Ky’air Thomas had a seizure more than a month after being found at Dayton airport.
An AMBER Alert was issued for two 5-month-old boys, Kason and Kyair Thomas, after a vehicle they were inside Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, was stolen in Columbus. Photo courtesy the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Now, Kyair reportedly has died in Columbus.

An AMBER Alert was issued for two 5-month-old boys, Kason and Kyair Thomas, after a vehicle they were inside Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, was stolen in Columbus. Photo courtesy the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Now, Kyair reportedly has died in Columbus.

Ky’air Thomas, one of the two twin boys who were at the center of an Amber alert that gripped Ohio in December, has died, according to Columbus Police.

He was the baby found at Dayton International Airport after he and his brother were kidnapped.

The baby’s mother, Wilhemnia Barnett, said in an Instagram story Sunday that her baby had a seizure and they did not know what caused it.

“Please let me grieve Ky’air,” she said. “We are nothing without you.”

Columbus Police said they responded to a call of a baby not breathing late Saturday on East Whittier Street. When police arrived, they found 6-month-old Ky’air unresponsive and transported him to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in life-threatening condition, said Columbus Police spokeswoman Melanie Amato.

He was pronounced dead at 11:44 p.m. Columbus Police are actively investigating, Amato said.

Ky’air Thomas was found in the parking lot of Dayton International Airport in a car seat after Ky’air and his twin brother, Kason, were taken in a car from a pizza shop in the Short North arts district in Columbus.

Kason was found days later in Indianapolis, in his mother’s stolen 2010 Honda Accord.

Columbus Police charged Nalah T. Jackson, 24, with kidnapping the twin boys, who were both five months old. She allegedly stole a running car from a Donatos Pizza in the Short North with the twins inside on Dec. 19 around 9:45 p.m. Ky’air was found early on Dec. 20, and Kason was found on Dec. 22.

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