Police: Baby found safe after being kidnapped in Holly Hill

HOLLY HILL, Fla. — A 5½-month-old girl was found safe Wednesday afternoon at an apartment complex after being kidnapped from a business, the Holly Hill Police Department said.

Police said they were called shortly before 3:15 p.m. to Arrow Service and Towing at Carswell Avenue and Sixth Street after the owner called 911 to report that someone had stolen a company GMC Yukon.

Investigators said Sarah Ordonez, Jade Zatalava, two unidentified men and the child, whom Ordonez was baby-sitting, arrived at the tow yard to retrieve Ordonez's items from a vehicle that had been towed.

Police said Ordonez and one of the men got out of the car while everyone else remained in it. They said one of the men stole the SUV, the keys of which were in the vehicle.

Investigators said one of the men got into the front seat of the Mitsubishi Lancer in which Zatalava and the child were seated and drove away, leaving Ordonez behind.

Police said Ordonez's cellphone was left in the Lancer and they traced it to the Clifton Apartments on Clifton Avenue near Third Street.

Holly Hill police Deputy Chief Jeffrey Miller said he approached a group of people at an apartment building, and when he asked them if they had seen a baby, they pointed at Zatalava.

Miller said Zatalava picked up the girl from a car seat and he asked why she had not said anything when he asked about a baby.

"I was scared," Zatalava said, according to an arrest report.

Zatalava used a stranger's apartment to get a drink of water and change the child's diaper, the report said. It said she didn't call police because she "didn't want to snitch."

The GMC Yukon has been found, but police said they are still searching for the men who stole the vehicles.

"It was possibly a crime of opportunity," Holly Hill police Chief Steve Aldrich said. "If it was a plan, obviously, the plan went sideways when they left the female babysitter at the wrecker services."

Jade Zatalava was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of kidnapping. She is being held without bail.

Sarah Ordonez was booked into jail on charges of child neglect, giving false information and perjury. She is being held in lieu of a $2,500.

Cox Media Group