Police confirm missing 5-year-old from Lexington has been returned home safe

Police confirmed Tuesday that the child found in Bourbon County during a drug bust last week is 5-year-old Zanaa Johnson, who had been last seen in Lexington Feb. 25.

Detective Earl Hatter of the Paris Police Department said in an interview that Zanaa had been hiding in a closet inside Solomon Fields’ home. Hatter was part of a team with the Bluegrass Narcotic Task Force that had obtained a search warrant to search the home on West 8th Street as part of an investigation into the sale of oxycodone.

Hatter said that as he was doing a “sweep” of the home and announcing his presence when “this little girl comes out.” He said she was “just very scared” but otherwise okay.

He said Fields told police that Zanaa is his daughter, and he “went and grabbed her off a playground” in Lexington.

He said the family member who has custody of the girl “had no clue” that she might have been with Fields. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had created a poster with Zanaa’s picture on it, saying that she “may be in the company of her mother.”

Hatter said police are still trying to confirm whether Fields is the child’s father, and if he is not, he will face additional charges.

Police said in a news release that Fields, 26, has been charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor; two counts of second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, first offense (Schedule 1 and 2); second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, first offense (cocaine); first degree trafficking in marijuana; and custodial interference.

Lexington police Sgt. Donnell Gordon also confirmed in an email Tuesday that Zanaa has been found. He said her disappearance “was a custodial interference investigation.”