A man wanted in connection to the abduction of a 10-year-old Solon, Iowa girl was taken into custody after a two-and-a-half hour standoff in Davenport.
Around 7 p.m. Saturday, March 7, several hours after an Amber Alert for Brianna Crane was issued, law enforcement learned that the alleged abductor, 48-year-old Kenneth Eugene Johns, was in Davenport, according to a statement by Davenport Chief of Police Don Schaeffer. By 7 a.m. police found out that Johns, who is Crane’s stepfather, was at a home in the 2600 block of Farnam Street. Police believed he was armed and dangerous.
Schaeffer said the Emergency Service Team and negotiators with the Davenport Police were called to the home.
“After approximately 2 ½ hours of negotiating, and the suspect’s dialogue becoming more threatening and violent, he was tactically taken into custody and transported to Scott County Jail, without further incident,” Schaeffer said in a statement.
A spokesperson from the Iowa Department of Public Safety said Johns did not live at the address police arrested him from. Neighbors told News 8 they had never seen him before Sunday and didn't know he was there.
"The police came into our house to see what the layout was to try to figure out which windows were ours and which windows were theirs, and pretty much told us that our best bet would be to leave because they didn't know what the situation was," said Gene Redahan, who lives in the apartment on the other side of the same duplex Johns was in. "The SWAT team was negotiating with him, trying to get him to come out, and eventually I guess they ended up breaking some windows, putting some tear gas in, and extracting him that way."
Johns was charged with parole violation, Schaeffer said. Additional charges relating to the alleged abduction were pending with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Crane was dropped off to police around 1:30 a.m. Sunday by what police are calling a "third party."
The Amber Alert that was issued Saturday afternoon was cancelled in the early morning hours Sunday.
Johns was transferred from the Scott County Jail to Johnson County less than 24 hours after he was arrested.