Update —
Davenport police on Sunday, March 8, 2015 arrested the stepfather of a 10-year-old Iowa girl who was allegedly abducted.
Kenneth Johns, 48, the suspect in the Amber Alert issued Saturday, March 7, 2015 was taken into custody by the Davenport Police Department Tactical Unit around 9:35 a.m. at a residence on Farnum Street and Central Park Avenue, authorities said.
Brianna Crane, of Solon, Iowa, was dropped off safely by a third party to law enforcement around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, according to police.
The investigation is ongoing.
Original post --
n Amber Alert was issued for a child out of Johnson County, Iowa who was allegedly abducted by her stepfather.
The alert for Brianna Crane from Solon, Iowa was issued Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2015. Brianna is described as being hearing impaired, according to Iowa.gov’s Amber Alert system. Brianna was originally thought to be 9-years-old, it was later made clear that she is 10 years old.
Brianna was allegedly abducted by her stepfather, 48-year-old Kenneth Eugene Johns, according to a spokesperson from the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Johns is a known convicted felon. Online court records show Johns has been out on parole since 2013.
Johns was believed to be driving a gray 2014 four-door Ford Focus.
Brianna is described as being 4-feet tall weighing 85 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a plaid coat with a furry hood, blue jeans and black high top shoes.
Johns is described as being 6-feet tall, 210 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes and is clean shaven, according to Iowa State Police. He was wearing a red hoodie, black hat, with blue jeans and gray ocean pacific shoes.
Johns is believed to be armed and dangerous, according to Iowa State Police.
If you have any information you are asked to call 911.
Police Investigation:
"The more hours that pass, the more days, the more weeks that pass, the harder it is [to find her]," said Alex Murphy, Public Information Officer for the Iowa Department of Public Safety. "That's why we're deploying all of our resources at this point to try and come up with any tips, any leads that we can to to try and find these two. Obviously if you encounter Mr. Johns, or who you think is Mr. Johns, call 911, because we do believe he is probably armed and dangerous, so don't confront him personally."
Since the alert has been issued, KCRG reported that authorities have searched two homes in Johnson County in connection with Johns. One home was in Coralville and the other was in Iowa City. Police have also followed up with an acquaintance of Johns and authorities said they have no specific reason to think he would be in Iowa City.
Police held a news conference Saturday evening where they personally addressed Kenneth Johns about the abduction.
"To Mr. Johns, if he's hearing this, we do ask him to reach out to us," Johnson County Sheriff Capt. Gary Kramer said. "We want to end this peacefully and we would welcome a phone call from him as well."
Kramer touched on the abduction during the conference, saying that police were called to a domestic situation in Solon around 4:45 a.m. Kramer said "while deputies were talking to the victim, Mr. Johns took the 10-year-old girl."
More details were not available, as Kramer cited that this was an "active investigation."
Man claiming to be Kenneth Eugene Johns contacts Iowa news station:
KCRG also reported that a man claiming to be Kenneth Johns called their station Saturday around 5:30 p.m. He provided personal details that police confirmed matched Johns.
The man claiming to be Johns said he had "done nothing wrong" but love his child, according to KCRG's report. The man also said he took the 10-year-old girl to protect her and said he planned "to have her returned."
