A Gurnee woman has been arrested for kidnapping a two-year-old boy during a carjacking where she also struck the vehicle owner with the car and then later abandoned the toddler in Chicago.
Prosecutors said a man drove his blue 2009 Honda Civic to the Speed Queen Laundry, 6808 West Grand Avenue in Chicago, around 11:45 p.m. on September 8.
The man parked in a space facing the street with the engine running as he waited for his laundry.
A woman was in the backseat of the car changing a two-year-old boy’s diaper. The woman went inside to help the man move their clothes into the dryer, prosecutors said.
The woman set up a makeshift baby monitor by leaving a cellphone inside the car with a WhatsApp video call.
The toddler was wearing pajamas and was barefoot. He was lying on the rear seat of the vehicle, which was left unlocked with the engine still running.
The woman heard movement from the video call and she believed the child had woken up.
The two looked outside of the laundromat windows and saw their victim pull out of the parking spot, prosecutors said.
The man and woman ran outside and the man caught up to his vehicle where he grabbed onto the driver’s side door handle as a suspect, later identified as Mica P. Best, 35, of Gurnee, was seen in the driver’s seat, prosecutors said.
Best locked the car and the male victim was unable to open the door. He took out his cellphone and struck the driver’s side window several times.
Best continued to accelerate in the car, forcing the victim to run alongside it and Best struck him with the front of the car, prosecutors said.
Several 911 calls were received from the scene and Best fled westbound on Grand Avenue.
Surveillance video captured Best approaching the car and looking into the rear passenger window before stealing the car.
The stolen car was later seen driving in the area of the 1000 block of Thomas Place in Oak Park around 11:51 p.m. and then parking.
Prosecutors said Best exited the car and removed the toddler and his blanket and tried to place him onto the grass but she pushed him to the ground after he grabbed onto her.
The child collapsed onto the ground and cried as Best returned to the car, made a U-turn and sped away.
She was captured on surveillance video again minutes later at a CTA train station where she offered to do drugs and engaged in a sex act with a man, prosecutors said.
The two left the platform and got into the stolen car where the WhatsApp video call was still active.
Officers saw the video call and briefly saw Best’s face and the male’s face. Officers advised the two that they were engaged in a kidnapping and they needed to pull the car over, prosecutors said.
Officers located the victim’s car in Bellwood around 12:24 a.m. and performed a traffic stop and took the two into custody in the 2400 block of West Adams Street.
Officers continued to search for the toddler and located him around 12:40 a.m. in the area where Best had ditched him, which was less than a block from a busy street.
He was crying and his bare feet were very cold from the 50-degree weather in the middle of the night, prosecutors said.
He was transported to the hospital by ambulance and released in good condition.
The male victim whose car was stolen and had been struck by the vehicle suffered swelling to his right knee. He positively identified Best as the offender.
Best was charged with aggravated kidnapping of a child under 13, possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, vehicular hijacking and aggravated battery of a child.
Best remains held in the Cook County Jail after a judge ordered her detained pending trial, CWB Chicago reported.
She is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday for a status hearing.