Kristen Smith Is Accused Of Abducting Her Half Sister's 5 Day Old Baby

Kristen Smith, 31, was indicted  last Wednesday for kidnapping Kayden Powell, her half-sister’s newborn baby.

Brianna Marshall, Smith’s 18-year-old half-sister, woke up in the middle of the night on February 6 to find her 5-day-old son and her half-sister missing from their home. She immediately called 911 to report the incident. The authorities then called Smith on her cellphone while she was driving through Iowa and asked her to stop for questioning.

Inside Smith’s vehicle, the baby’s car seat, stroller, and clothes were found. However, the baby was nowhere in sight. Smith denied  knowing the baby’s whereabouts, but the police still took her into custody on the account of an outstanding warrant she has.

Investigators also found a prosthetic pregnancy belly in Smith’s car, including Facebook messages and emails of Smith saying that she has given birth or is pregnant. The police are still conducting an ongoing investigation to get more answers about the incident.

Police Chief Mike Horihan was the one who found the baby 29 hours later. Baby Kayden was placed inside a tote bag and left behind a gas station in below zero temperatures. The location was about 500 yards from the place where the police stopped Smith the previous night. Horihan also said that he feared for the worst. He was so surprised when the baby cried. The baby was then taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation and treatment. According to professionals in the medical field, a baby’s survival in that kind of weather is nearly impossible.

Smith has been charged with kidnapping and she could possibly spend the rest of her life in prison for a maximum sentence. She was also charged with child endangerment for leaving the baby in the cold weather. This was Smith’s worst criminal charge. She also has other records in Texas, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

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Oh My!!! I am so happy he was found! WTH is with people! She takes him. Then left him to freeze to death. I hope she get life......

I bet when she found out the police wanted to talk to her, she put the baby in the tote bag to hide him for a little while. Probably figured if they didn't find him in her possession they'd let her walk. Doubt she thought she'd be taken into custody.
She was trying to use her sister's baby to run some kind of scam, either on a guy she wanted or for money selling Kayden off.

Poor little guy could have lost his life during her risky game.

I think it was for a guy! She must not have liked her sister much. To steal your own sisters baby you would have to be nuts. Did she think her own family would not know her baby was really her sisters.

June 26, 2014

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Madison have filed a new indictment against the Colorado woman accused of kidnapping her 5-day-old nephew from Wisconsin and leaving him overnight in freezing temperatures outside an Iowa gas station.

Kristen Smith of Aurora, Colorado, was previously charged with kidnapping Kayden Powell from a Town of Beloit home in February.

The new indictment Wednesday specifies that the victim was under the age of 18, a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum penalty. If convicted, she'd now spend 25 years to life in a federal prison.

A message left with her defense attorney, Matt Noel, was not immediately returned.

Smith was arrested in West Branch, Iowa, on Feb. 6. The child survived despite being left in frigid temperatures for more than 24 hours.

Smith's trial starts July 28, 2014.

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