Kidnapped toddlers found after stranger takes them from mother

Two toddlers  that were taken by a stranger offering to help their mother early Wednesday were found safe, DeKalb police said.

The mother of the children said her car broke down on Interstate 20 near Wesley Chapel Road around 2 a.m. Wednesday. She was with her sons, 3-year-old Jalen Mattison and 1-year-old Amari Mattison.

Police said a man offered to help the woman while she made arrangements to tow her car. Surveillance video shows the man driving off in his Jeep with her children. The woman claims she did not know the man.

A few hours later, two women arrived at the DeKalb County courthouse with the children and returned them to authorities. The women said they thought they were babysitting the children for a friend when they realized they had been kidnapped, police said. The women told police they only know the individual by a nickname and could not identify him.

Police have a vague description of the man but said he was driving a 2000-2005 hunter green Jeep Cherokee.

State investigators are also talking to the children's mother.

"Some information surfaced as officers looked into this, about the care of the children, and now this case will be turned over to DFACS as it pertains to the children and their mother," said police spokeswoman Mekka Parish.

Anyone who has information on the kidnapping is asked to call police.