Mother arrested after 11-year-old handcuffed, kidnapped at knifepoint, authorities say

Authorities in Cherokee County, Georgia, arrested Alicia Omana, 34, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019, on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and battery, all related to family violence.

Authorities in Cherokee County, Georgia, arrested Alicia Omana, 34, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019, on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and battery, all related to family violence.

A mother was arrested Tuesday after she allegedly handcuffed her 11-year-old son, kidnapped him at knifepoint and tried to leave the state with the boy, authorities in Georgia said.

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Police in Grantville spotted Alicia Omana's vehicle on Interstate 85 north of LaGrange. The boy was found inside the vehicle with visible injuries to his arms, according to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's deputies were first tipped to the alleged kidnapping around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The child's father said the 11-year-old was communicating with him by phone after Omana, 34, took him from their home on Jasmine Court in Woodstock.

“The father arrived at the house and explained that he had been in contact with both the son and the wife and was unable to convince her to return home,” sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said Wednesday in a news release. “He felt she was fleeing to Louisiana where she had family.”

Her husband was able to track Omana’s progress through a cellphone in her vehicle, Baker said, which helped deputies to coordinate with law enforcement agencies south of Atlanta and ultimately led to Omana’s arrest.

She was arrested on charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children and battery, all related to family violence. She also faces a charge of obstructing a 911 call.

Omana was being held Wednesday without bond in the Cherokee County jail.

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