Baltimore County police have found two teenage brothers who were kidnapped Tuesday from their Catonsville house.
“The two youths have been located, and they are safe,” said Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson at 3:25 p.m. Friday after a family member brought the two boys to the police.
“They?re at my headquarters rightnow. The extensive manhunt caused the individuals who held these two youths to reconsider what they were doing.”
Sterling Blackwell, 15, and Stephon Blackwell, 16, were abducted Tuesday in the 600 block of Plymouth Road by six armed, masked men, according to police
A woman inside the house was allegedly sexually assaulted during the crime.
Officers from several federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, joined Baltimore County and Baltimore City police in the hunt.
Hundreds of tips from around the area poured in to law enforcement as state police launched an Amber Alert.
Police on Wednesday recovered a 2004 BMW 645 convertible with tinted windows they say was used in the kidnapping, but continue to search for a dark Chevrolet Suburban with blacked-out windows.
Baltimore County police spokesman Cpl. Mike Hill said the boys were being questioned about who kidnapped them ? and were not considered suspects in the incident.
“They are victims of a kidnapping,” Hill said.
“Now we?re going to get on with the business of investigating the other crimes: We havea home invasion. We have an alleged sexual assault. And we have the rest of the kidnapping investigation itself.”
Police have said they are looking into whether the kidnapping was connected to the city?s bustling drug trade.
Several members of the Blackwell family, including the two boys, have been arrested on drug charges.
Detectives in Baltimore City had worried that if the boys were not found alive, the incident could escalate the violence between the city?s warring drug factions.
As of Friday afternoon, police were questioning the Blackwell brothers. Officers had made no arrests in the case.
