A Mississippi teenager who had last been seen Saturday night before being reported missing was found safe across state lines Monday evening.
On Monday evening, investigators with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department discovered that John Michael Jones, 16, had been lured online to meet with someone down the road from his Brandon residence. That individual would turn out to be an older Hispanic male who then absconded with the teenager, police report.
Jones, a student at Hartfield Academy, was reported missing on Sunday and the state’s first-ever Purple Alert was sent out. Ahead of Monday’s discovery by law enforcement, foul play was not suspected in the teenager’s disappearance as Jones was believed to be suffering from depression due to the deaths of his father and a grandparent.
Through a collaborative effort between Rankin County authorities, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, 34-year-old Kaleb James Cannady was identified as the suspect in this case. An immediate “Be On the Look Out” was issued for Cannady’s vehicle which was described as a silver 2015 Dodge Charger with Arkansas license plates.
At around 7:17 p.m., Arkansas state troopers and Belle Vista police officers located the suspected vehicle and took Cannady into custody. Jones was found safe and was in the custody of Arkansas state police.
“Most of all we would like to thank the public who made sure that John Michael Jones was ever-present in everyone’s mind. With your assistance in addition to our law enforcement partners, we were able to locate and recover the Brandon teen in a little over 24 hours,” a statement from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department reads.
The investigation into the teen’s disappearance and rescue remains under investigation.
