Authorities working to return kidnapping victims, suspects
Mar. 8—TUPELO — Lee County officials are working hard to secure the return of not only the three children kidnapped from their Shannon home Tuesday morning but also the three adult suspects accused of taking them.
Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over the suspects Tuesday evening more than 400 miles from Shannon and took them into custody without incident.
"Right now they are in the Campbell County Tennessee Detention Center," Johnson said. "We are awaiting extradition process to get the suspects back to Mississippi.
"The children are safe and in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Child Services. They are working with the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services to return these children home to their custodial parents."
The incident began around 9 a.m. March 7 when Douglas Mills, 52, of Barbourville, Kentucky, arrived at his biological daughter's house in Shannon. He forced his way into the house and, while brandishing a gun, took his three grandchildren — ages 2, 6 and 8.
Authorities say Mills was assisted in the kidnapping by Vanessa Hensley Cox, 45, of Flat Lick, Kentucky, and Shelia Michelle Hood, 50, of Gray, Kentucky. The relationship between Mills and the women is not known.
With law enforcement in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky on the look out for the suspect vehicle, the suspects began the seven and a half-hour trek back to eastern Kentucky. They made it about an hour away from their destination before they were caught.
"The Tennessee Highway Patrol was able to activate a traffic stop based upon information we gave them (around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday)," Johnson said. "The traffic stop was made on I-75 in Tennessee about 15 miles south of the Kentucky state line."
At this point, Mills is charged with home invasion, burglary and three counts of kidnapping. Cox and Hood are each charged with one count of kidnapping.
For the second day in a row, the sheriff stressed that this was not a situation where a stranger was taking children at random.
"This was a custodial-type kidnapping. This was a family situation," Johnson said. "The children were in the legal custody of the mother here in Shannon. And the grandfather came down here and forcibly took these children at gunpoint and was traveling back to Kentucky."
Johnson said the children's mother used to live in eastern Kentucky but moved to Lee County to put 450 miles between her family and this kind of family drama. Despite having a gun pointed at her and her children kidnapped, the mother kept her head, earning the praise and thanks of law enforcement, Johnson said.
"We appreciate the calmness of the mother who gave us the information we needed as well as a great vehicle description," Johnson said.
