PUBLIC SAFETY

Suspects in custody as police try to unravel abductions

Madeline Buckley and Justin L. Mack
The Indianapolis Star

Two teens abducted at gunpoint from their Indianapolis home early Monday are safe and unharmed, but the circumstances behind their apparent kidnapping are largely unclear.

This much is known:

•Aaron Blackwell, 16, and his sister, Emma Blackwell, 13, taken around 3 a.m. Monday from their North LaSalle Street home, are now in the custody of Child Protective Services in Indianapolis until detectives can determine they are no longer in any danger, police said.

•Several suspects tied to the abduction of Aaron are in custody, authorities said. The suspects freed Aaron on Monday evening after a chase by police in the Detroit area.

•Emma on Monday evening returned to the home on the 1200 block of North LaSalle Street.

•The abduction was "narcotics related," an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department news release said.

Much is still unclear.

Who abducted the children? Who were the people arrested in the Detroit area? How are drugs related to the abduction? How did Emma return home?

Detroit police on Tuesday referred questions to the FBI.

Special Agent David Porter of the FBI's Detroit unit on Tuesday declined to name those arrested, say how many suspects police arrested or say on what charges the suspects are held.

IMPD has not disclosed more details about the abduction or the children's rescue or a possible motive in the abduction itself.

Family reached on Tuesday declined to comment. Knocks on the door of the home where police say the abduction took place went unanswered.

The children's father, Isaac Pernell, told The Indianapolis Star on Monday that he believed the children were taken in exchange for a lot of money, but he did not elaborate on why.

Pernell said he learned of the abduction from a friend about 4 a.m. He said that he never thought the children would still be missing more than 12 hours later.

"I figured they would bring them back," Pernell said Monday afternoon. "I figured we would have the kids back by now."

An Amber Alert issued midday Monday said the two teens were believed to be in "extreme danger."

Police responding to a 911 call at the home were told that the children were abducted at gunpoint by three men, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department news bulletin. They were described as driving a black Cadillac Escalade and a black Dodge Charger.

Police said Monday that the children's mother, Kathleen Blackwell, was cooperating with the investigation.

When the abductions were first reported, police said that they didn't believe a parent was involved and that the crimes were not random.

Indianapolis police, Indiana State Police, federal law enforcement and authorities in Michigan worked on the case.

Detectives ask anyone with information about the kidnapping to call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.

Star reporters Michael Anthony Adams and Jill Disis and the Detroit Free Press contributed to this article.