Michigan mother runs inside gas station for cigarettes as man steals car with kids inside

29-year-old man taken into custody

BURTON, Mich. – Two young Michigan children are safe with their parents after their mother's car was stolen with them in the backseat Wednesday morning outside a gas station near Flint. 

This prompted an Amber Alert for the 2-year-old girl and her 9-month-old brother. The children were found more than three hours later inside the car in Flint. 

A 29-year-old man was taken into custody around 6 p.m. Wednesday.

At about 7 a.m. Wednesday their mother, Kaytlin Fletcher, was faced with one of the worst possible situations for any parent. She had run in to buy cigarettes from the Admiral Gas Station on South Saginaw Street in Burton. The two children -- Arinna and Lincoln -- were left in the car. 

Fletcher watched helplessly as a man walked up to the car and drove away. 

"I was in the front right by the window, right by the door. I ran in to get cigarettes of all things and on my way out I see a heavier-set, tall, black male ... in a red hoodie," she said. 

That sparked an all-out search for the car and the two little kids. Finally, more than three hours later, the car was found with the kids inside safe. The thief apparently parked it along a road.  

The family is elated. The kids are with their parents. 

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Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

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