Overview

• Deputies located the white 2011 GMC Yukon in a Kentwood business parking lot and found Christopher Cooper sleeping in the back seat.
• The driver, identified as 49-year-old James (Casey) Mercier of McComb, Mississippi, was taken into custody and faces an aggravated kidnapping charge.
• Authorities say the child was taken around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday after the vehicle left the I-55 Welcome Center near Kentwood as his mother tried to remove him.
• Louisiana State Police issued the AMBER Alert at 10:45 p.m., citing a Mississippi plate PJT070 on the SUV.
• Investigators received a tip around 5:45 a.m. that matched the suspect vehicle, which helped guide the search to the Kentwood area.