Columbus mother arrested in Tift Co. for kidnapping extradited to Muscogee Co.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A Columbus mother faces kidnapping charges after police say she took her children from a north Columbus Burger King.

It prompted an Amber Alert for the two girls who had been abducted, and the suspect is now in the Muscogee County Jail.

Kalia Spires is accused of kidnapping her two children, four-year-old Kylann Harper and 11-year-old Kylie Horne, from a Burger King on Veterans Parkway. Police Investigator Lance Deaton says once they received a call, there was a plan of action to find the girls.

“It takes a lot of different organizations and a lot of different people and in this particular case, we had a lot of help from not just the Columbus Police Department. We had help from the FBI, the US Marshals Office, the GBI,” said Deaton.

The officer says early in the investigation they knew it would lead them to the southern part of the state.

“Even though it started in Columbus and the children were abducted from Columbus, we got early information based on the investigation, there was a good chance this was going to be moving to south Georgia.”

Spires was arrested in Tift County, and while investigators wouldn’t say yet what led them to her, they say the abducted girls are safe.

“The two children were fine. They were not injured, and they were in okay shape.”

Investigators initially asked for a Levi’s Call, which is a statewide alert to find children, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) felt this case needed a nationwide alert.

“In this particular case, we originally asked for a Levi’s Call. The GBI decided it met the criteria to an upgrade for an Amber Alert.”

It is still unclear why she took the girls other than the children being in foster care, and she wanted them back.

“The mother had lost parental rights to the children, and they were in foster care at the time, and she was trying to get them back but not going through the proper processes to be able to do that.”

Officials say Spires may have had an accomplice to the abduction of the children, ant they are still investigating to determine if more charges will be filed. The suspect has been transported back to Columbus, where she will await her first court appearance, scheduled for Oct. 19, at the Muscogee County Jail.

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