Crime & Safety

VIDEO: Austell Man Charged in Attempted Kidnapping of 7-Year-Old Girl

The man was on probation at the time of the kidnapping after serving a sentence for killing his uncle.

An Austell man has been charged with attempted kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl from a west Georgia Walmart on Wednesday when her mother stepped away for fruit.

The girl, Brittany Baxter, remembered her stranger danger training and kicked and screamed to get away when the suspect grabbed her and picked her up, which can be seen on the store’s surveillance camera.

"When she told me someone had tried to get her, I just couldn't believe it," Brittney's mother, Georgeann Baxter, told Channel 2 Action News.

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According to ABC News, the alert for Woods and his vehicle was sent out and within an hour, police spotted a car that matched the description of the suspect’s vehicle.  They found Woods in his car in nearby Tallapoosa and arrested him for questioning,  police said.

Woods has been charged with attempted kidnapping, and additional charges are likely, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report states. The suspect was being held in the Haralson County Jail, where he remained Thursday without bond. GBI agents were assisting with the investigation.

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Woods was recently released from prison for voluntary manslaughter and was probation after serving his sentence, news reports state.

Woods was arrested in October 2004 after using his uncle’s credit card after his uncle had been reported missing since in July 2004, AJC reports.

Woods confessed that he killed his uncle and led police to the body, according to court documents. However, since the confession was made before Woods’ requested attorney arrived, a violation of his Fifth Amendment rights, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

In October, Woods was released from the Wheeler Correctional Facility, where he had been since April 2007, according to AJC. He was placed on probation after serving out his sentence.


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