The father of two kids allegedly kidnapped by their mother said they are “still in shock” after being reunited with their family nearly a year after they were taken. Brooke, 11, and Adrian Gilley, 12, were found nearly 1,000 miles away from home after Florida police arrested their mother, Kristi Gilley, during a routine traffic stop. Blake Gilley, 38, said the kids are “still in shock” after sharing some of the details about the treatment they received after they were taken by their mother.
Gilley said: “My kids were missing. I didn’t know where they are. That’s the biggest fear in the world. It is an understatement to say I was terrified and freaked out.
“Kristi would never tell them what town they were in or anything. If they were in a car, they had to keep their heads down.”
He said Adrian, who has Down syndrome and is nonverbal, “still does that,” as their mother instructed them not to look anyone in the eyes and “just look at the ground.”
Gilley added: “He’s getting better now. I’ve been telling him, ‘Hey, you’re good, buddy, look up.'”
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Gilley said the children had reported their mother had mostly kept them indoors for the duration of their disappearance and they had not been in school since they were taken.
He said that “they are still in shock. You can see this is bothering them.”
According to High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard, the family was “en route to an Airbnb right outside of our area” when the car Kristi Gilley was driving was stopped during a routine search.
The High Springs, Florida, police said the car was flagged in the system in connection to an active kidnapping warrant filed in Clay Country, Missouri.
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A court report showed Kristi Gilley had not returned the children to their father after the court ruling granting him sole custody and they were living with her sister in Liberty, Missouri.
The report said: “Kristi had been making it increasingly more difficult for Blake to visit or speak to the children for quite some time, and had refused to let Blake visit or speak to the children at all, since 3/15/2022.”
Authorities attempted to locate Gilley and the kids at her parents’ home in California but were unsuccessful, resulting in a parental kidnapping warrant being filed for Kristy on July 13, 2022.
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