Police have found 1 1/2-year-old Naomi Hilel, who was in a minivan that was stolen this morning at a Virginia Beach 7-Eleven. They said she was found in good condition walking around a hotel parking lot unattended in Newport News.
Her parents reunited with her this afternoon.
Virginia Beach police are still looking for Matthew R. Nash, 24, a white male who is 5 feet 11, as a suspect. His photo was posted on the state’s Amber Alert Web site at www.vaamberalert.com.
He has dark, shoulder-length hair and was wearing a ball cap, plaid shirt, dark-colored shorts and dark tennis shoes, police said.
At 4:15 p.m., Virginia Beach police said they had obtained warrants charging Nash with carjacking and abduction. They had not located him or the van, said police spokewoman Margie Long said.
The van, a dark gray Honda Odyssey, has Florida license plates with the number “HASHEM1,” Long said. Anyone who spots the van is asked to call 911.
The police department in Camillus, N.Y., posted a picture of Nash on its Web site in January, saying he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for harassment. A police department spokesman there did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The case started at 9:48 this morning when a man pushed Naomi’s mother away from her minivan at a gas pump on Witchduck Road, then took off in the vehicle with the girl still in her car seat, police said. The mother fought the man and tried to hang onto the car, family and police said. She was treated by paramedics.
Naor Hilel, the child’s father, said he was at home when the carjacking happened. His family is in Hampton Roads from Florida visiting family for the summer. He said HASHEM1, the van’s license plate, means “God is one.”
“I don’t know who’d want to do this kind of thing to people,” he said.
The girl was found at the Point Plaza Suites and Conference Hotel, on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in Newport News. The general manager of the hotel described the reuion of the girl with her parents at the hotel as emotional.
“When they entered the lobby of the hotel, they were almost running,” manager Diane DeWitt said of the parents. “And they just kept saying, ‘Where is she, where is she?’
“So we took them back to their daughter and they, I mean, I’ll just never forget. It was a sight that was a lot of joy, and the mom was just crying over and over and her father was just grinning from ear to ear. So I’m sure this is a day that they won’t forget for a long time.”
The girl was spotted this morning by two women who were in a car and getting ready to check out of the hotel, according to DeWitt and police.
“One of the guests got out of the vehicle and held her hand and walked her down the sidewalk all the way to the front of the hotel,” DeWitt said. “They brought her to the front desk and they told us that they had found her and that they didn’t know where her parents were.”
The hotel staff tried to determine whether she was the child of guests, DeWitt said. When they couldn’t find the girl’s parents, they called 911.
“She had no idea what was going on,” DeWitt said of the girl. “She was very subdued, she was very quiet. Once we got her to warm up to us a little bit, she wanted to play. You know, we gave her some crackers, some juice and gave her a little puppy teddy bear.”
When police arrived, DeWitt said, “we looked at surveillance cameras and everything started to fall into place.”
(Source: PilotOnline.com)
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9 Responses
During these three weeks, I am so happy to hear a potential tragedy, have such a happy ending B”H!
Btw, minivan license plates HASHEM1.
Coincidence? I think, Not!
“we gave her some crackers, some juice”
I hope it was Kosher!
we are very happy for the Hillel family that little Naomi was found.
#1, I can’t believe that is your your reaction? I hope what you eat is kosher because non kosher food is ‘Mtamtem es Halev” it makes people dim witted and that is what your comment is.
People should thank Hashem every day for their children that He has given them.
One should not take for granted that he/she has children even when they are big already,
Because:
#1 A person who doesn’t have children is sad until the last day of his life;
#2 A person who has children and something Chas v’Shalom happens to his child, no matter at which age, it is very sad for him.
These are only two of the many reasons why a person should give Shevach v’Hodoah to Hashem every single day as if that was THE DAY that Hashem helped him and gave him a child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1, I apologize for what I wrote. It wasn’t right and I wasn’t thinking, especially in the 3 weeks.
chasdei hashem!
Commentor #4, as to your statement that “a person who doesn’t have children is unhappy until the last day of his life,” it sure seems to me that there are plenty of people with children who are unhappy, people with health who are unhappy, people with monetary success who are unhappy, and the list goes on. Happiness, true inner happiness doesn’t seem to be dependent on what one has or doesn’t have. Pirkei Avos doesn’t say: Who is a rich man; one who has children. A rich person is one who is happy with his cheylik. And in order to be happy with one’s portion, he/she has to do a true inventory of what Hashem blessed him/her with and to use it to serve Him wholeheartedly. As a woman who has not had children, I found your statement hurtful and without basis in Torah. As for me, I’m going to make this a happy day. Kol tuv.
Achain yesh HaShem bamakom hazeh ve’anochi lo yadati! Chasdei HaShem ki lo samnu..
Wow what a miracle!!! Baruch Hashem