Longtime NYC Nanny Arrested on Kidnapping Charges After Allegedly Disappearing With 3-Year-Old

The nanny and the 3-year-old girl disappeared for 15 hours, police said.

ByABC News
May 18, 2016, 1:50 PM

— -- A New York City nanny has been arrested on kidnapping charges after she disappeared with the 3-year-old girl who was in her care, police said.

Gabriella Russo, 3, was taken to the New York Downtown Hospital for evaluation after she disappeared with her nanny for about 15 hours Wednesday, police said.
NYPD

Brooklyn resident Fatima Alexander, 59, was last seen with Gabriella Russo at the child's lower Manhattan home Tuesday around 9:15 a.m. before the two were reported missing by police, the NYPD said.

The department tweeted a “missing person” poster later that day at 6:47 p.m.

Alexander was supposed to bring the child to day care when she picked her up Tuesday morning, ABC News station WABC-TV reported.

New York nanny Fatima Alexander, 59, was arrested on kidnapping charges after she disappeared with the 3-year-old girl she cares for.
NYPD

More than 15 hours later, Alexander returned the toddler to the child’s home today just after midnight, police said, describing the pair as in "good condition." After a subsequent investigation, the nanny was arrested and charged with kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment, police said.

Alexander had worked with the family for more than a decade and had no known medical problems, WABC-TV reported.

The child was taken to the New York Downtown Hospital for evaluation, according to the station.

Fatima Alexander and the 3-year-old she cares for had last been seen leaving the child's home Tuesday morning before they disappeared for 15 hours, police said.
NYPD