NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A woman accused of abducting a 3-month-old boy while babysitting him in a Virginia home confessed to police that she made a fake Facebook profile and used it to set up the job, according to court records.
Tykirah Lashae Reid was arrested at her North Chesterfield home around 6:45 p.m. on Thursday in connection to the abduction of 3-month-old Jiraiya Cherry. The family reported the infant missing around 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, and an Amber Alert was issued just before 5 p.m.
Jiraiya’s uncle, who NewsNation affiliate WAVY is not naming, was at the family home in the 13000 block of Preakness Drive when the infant was abducted.
He told police he was babysitting the infant and his 4-year-old niece when a woman hired by Jiraiya’s parents came to the house to assist him. The woman was later identified as Reid, but at the time of Jiraiya’s abduction the family knew her as “Taliyah Lipsey.” Her fake name was based on a Facebook profile she used to communicate with Jiraiya’s parents about the babysitting job, according to court records.
Jiraiya’s uncle went into a back bedroom with his niece, leaving Reid and the infant alone in the living room. Jiraiya’s mother called the uncle at 10:12 a.m. and said she couldn’t reach the babysitter through Facebook messenger, which was the only method they had used to communicate. She asked Jiraiya’s uncle to check on the infant and the new babysitter; however, when he went into the living room he found them gone and that the front door was partially open, according to court records.
This is the same timeline of events Jiraiya’s grandparents recounted to WAVY during an interview the day after the abduction.
Jiraiya’s uncle reported the infant missing to the Newport News Police Department. The infant’s mother provided police with a picture from Reid’s Facebook page and gave them the name “Taliyah Lipsey.” Police identified the woman in the picture from the Facebook page as a person who lived in Suffolk.
WAVY is not naming that person because she has been cleared by police of any involvement in the abduction.
Detectives traveled to Suffolk to question the woman whose picture was being used on the fake Facebook page. They spoke to her and searched her home. They did not find Jiraiya on her property. The woman told police she believed she’d been “scammed,” and that another person used her picture to set up a fake Facebook account, court records state.
Police investigated several online accounts attached to the user name “Taliyah Lipsey.” They successfully identified Reid as the owner of the accounts. They traveled to her home in the 2700 block of Goosby Avenue in North Chesterfield where they found Jiraiya.
Investigators also determined that Reid stole her neighbor’s license plates and put them on her own car on the day of the abduction. She used them to transport Jiraiya from Newport News to North Chesterfield.
Chesterfield Police Department officers arrested Reid. She confessed to the abduction, as well as creating the fake Facebook profile and stealing her neighbor’s license plates, court records show. Reid is charged with abduction, child neglect, obstruction of justice, petit larceny, removing a serial number from a vehicle and larceny of a license plate.
