Two brothers, 10 and 5, who ran away from home found safe, police say
An alert neighbor is being credited with helping Clayton County Police locate two brothers who ran away from home Monday night.
A family member was babysitting 10-year-old Prinston Samples and his 5-year-old brother Jayden when they ran away from a residence on Regent Street at around 4 p.m. Sunday.
The children's mother Nikki Samples called police after she got off work that night and was told the boys were missing.
"They had the helicopter and the canine out last night," she told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes.
The boys were located 3.1 miles away in Jonesboro when a good Samaritan said they showed up at her door. Police discovered they spent the previous night in a vacant home.
Jayden Samples is described as a 5-year-old black male, with black hair, brown eyes, 4’01" in height, and weighs 60 lbs. Police say he ran away with his 10-year-old brother.
Samples was reunited with her children at around 9:30 Monday morning at a vacant house on Bogey Court.
Officers located the boys there after a neighbor reported seeing them in the area Sunday, then again Monday morning.
The woman who asked not to be identified said, "I'm seeing this news break come through. There are two missing kids in Jonesboro. I'm seeing the pictures and I know it's those two little boys."
The woman realized the missing children had played basketball with her son the day before.
Prinston Samples is described as a 10-year-old black male, with black hair, brown eyes, 4’11" in height, and weighs 100 lbs. Police say he ran away with his 5-year-old brother.
"I told them if they wanted to, they could come back today and play," the woman said. "The 10-year-old came back this morning, he was asking for my son if he could play. I told him it was too early he could come back later."
Then, she saw that news report and heard banging nearby.
"I followed the noise that I was hearing, and it led me behind my house. I look back there and the 10-year-old is banging on the U-Haul pod," she said. "I immediately called 911."
Police officials say the boys were unharmed. Medics transported the boys to Hughes Spalding hospital to be checked out.
"I just thank God I was able to get them in the right direction, because certainly I wouldn't want anything to happen to them," the neighbor said.