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Tonya Papanikolas reportingHannah Hoak, Reunited with Daughter: "The situation's really complicated, I appreciate everybody's help. And we're glad that she's safe and now we just have to work on getting our family back together."
An Amber Alert helps recover a little girl from her mother's fiancé.
Yesterday Brandon Nelson was watching the five year old while his fiancé was at work.
Around noon, a bank called the mother to say her fiancé had been trying to forge a check. The mom told Nelson to bring her daughter home, and got worried when the two didn't show up.
Police were concerned that Nelson was trying to get heroin, so they issued an Amber Alert just after 9:00 last night.
Within a couple hours, friends were able to get a hold of Nelson and convince him to call police. Then some citizens saw him in a West Valley grocery store parking lot and made sure he didn't get away.
After a long day, 5-year-old Taylor Graham was reunited with her mom late Saturday night.
Hannah Hoak, Reunited with Daughter: “It's wonderful, you guys. I'm very glad she's safe and everything's okay."
Taylor held tight to a new stuffed animal. While suspect Brandon Nelson was being questioned, Hannah Hoak took her daughter home. She left behind a note for her fiancé.
Hannah Hoak: “Hopefully from this point on, we can really get him the help he needs and he can deal with this, so we can have our family back. Because once upon a time, we had a very beautiful family."
After talking with Taylor, police learned that Nelson had driven her from store to store during the day. He attempted to forge 3 different checks, but never succeeded. After the Amber Alert was activated, police started receiving tips.
Sgt. Rosie Rivera, Taylorsville Police Department: “A friend of the suspect's saw the news and was able to get a hold of him, make him aware that we were looking for him."
Police arranged to meet Nelson at a Smith's grocery store in West Valley. But before officers arrived, some acquaintances saw the jeep, called police to double-check the license plate and decided to keep Nelson there.
Joshua McCleery, went After Suspect: “I got out, I took my knife and popped the tire so the tire would go down and he couldn't drive off."
Nelson wasn't in the jeep at the time, but Taylor was.
Ashlee Giles, Reported Suspect's Car: “We seen the little girl sleeping in the seat. I just wanted to get her out of that vehicle as quick as i could, but the officers told me to leave her there."
In the meantime, the witnesses say Nelson came back outside and tried to take off.
Joshua McCleery: ”He was peeling out and I ran over and got the driver's side door open and I jumped in, grabbed him, grabbed the steering wheel."
Ashlee Giles: “Then the officers got to him, pinned him down, cuffed him."
Officers questioned Nelson last night. He claimed he didn't know anyone had been trying to get a hold of him. Police released him. He has not been booked into jail. Charges may or may not be filed.
