Home Christian News UPDATE: Couple Arrested in the Church Nursery Abduction of 2-Year-Old Noah Trout,...

UPDATE: Couple Arrested in the Church Nursery Abduction of 2-Year-Old Noah Trout, Church Speaks Out

Noah Trout

UPDATED May 4, 2021: Noah Trout, 2, was found safe and returned to his family one day after he was abducted from his church nursery. The above image from the church shows Noah walking calmly behind his abductor. Two have been arrested.

According to news station WDBJ7, Nancy Fridley, 44, has been charged with felony abduction, child endangerment and drug possession in the case of a Noah Trout’s abduction. Fridley’s boyfriend, Bobby Lee Taylor, was also arrested and charged with one count of abduction. No motive has been identified.

“Investigators tracked a person of interest to a home in Clifton Forge and conducted surveillance there Monday, finding a boy who matched the description of Noah Trout,” Eddie Callahan reported. “They said he seemed fine, but took him to a hospital for an evaluation; he has been reunited with family.”

Shock. Relief. Praise for God. Law officers, community members, and church leadership expressed all of these emotions. 

Riverview Baptist Church’s leadership released this statement:

“The last 24 hours have been a nightmare for our entire church family. It is now that we can rejoice that the child that was kidnapped from our campus yesterday has been safely returned to his parents. We commend law enforcement for their excellent work, and we praise God for answering our prayers.

“Riverview Baptist Church values the safety and protection of every child. As a matter of policy, we fully cooperated with law enforcement. We are immediately examining ways to make our campus and facilities even more safe and secure for families wishing to come worship with us. We hope that this criminal act on our campus allows other churches to evaluate their own childcare safety procedures.

“We believe that transparency, child safety and accountability are essential for successful ministry, and we are fully committed to ministering to your children in a safe and responsible manner. As we do not want to interfere with the on-going work of law enforcement in this matter, this will be our only public statement at this time.”

______________

ChurchLeaders original article written on March 3, 2021 below.

Noah Trout, 2, was taken from Ripplemead, Virginia’s Riverview Baptist Church’s nursery on the Sunday morning of May 2, 2021, by an unidentified woman. Authorities issued an Amber Alert at 7 P.M. on Sunday night. News outlets and local citizens posted frantically for everyone to be on the lookout because Noah was considered to be in “extreme danger” by the state police.

On Monday May 3, 2021, the Giles County Sheriff’s Office announced that the abducted Noah Trout has been safely found with the help of FBI agents and Virginia State Police tactical team members. Noah was with FBI agents and Virginia State Police tactical team members, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Responses from the church’s Facebook page regarding Trout being safely found were filled with thankfulness and praise. Here are a few:

Praise God!!! Oh thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus!!!! Our prayers are answered!!!

Praise God for his protection and bringing him back to his family!

God heard and answers our prayers! Praise the Lord he is safe!

God is good and so faithful!

Information on Noah Trout’s Abduction

Riverview Baptist Church‘s senior pastor Mike Mitchener wrote on his Facebook page Monday morning, “Please join me in prayer today for the Trout family and the safe return of little Noah. Let’s also pray earnestly for the law enforcement agents working on this case. Psalm 27 is on my heart if you would like to join me in a moment of personal meditation this morning. Noah is greatly loved!”

The church postponed all remaining activities on Sunday and opened the sanctuary for people to come together and pray.

It was reported that a suspicious vehicle had been parked across the street during Riverview’s second worship service.

Authorities acted swiftly posting a possible description of the van and posted a CODE RED notification on their social media pages in the hopes of finding toddler Trout as soon as possible. 

This is a code red notification from the Giles Co Sheriffs Office. A baby boy, DOB 06/24/18 was abducted from the area of Big Stony Creek Rd in Ripplemead this afternoon. He weighs approximately 50 lbs and was wearing a gray tshirt. He has a red birth mark on the back of his neck. He is possibly with a male and female in an older model black van with an Army sticker on the back and possibly headed toward WV. Several witnesses are describing the vehicle as a dark colored SUV. Original witness described the vehicle as a dark colored van. Please be on the lookout.

 

Keeping Kids Safe at Church

No one knows at this point how someone was able to abduct Noah Trout from his church nursery. Those details are sure to be revealed. To keep kids safe in your church, children’s ministry leader Dale Hudson shares this advice.

It is crucial to have a security system that enables you to control who picks up the children.  Everyone should abide by this…that means even if the pastor came to pick up his child and he didn’t have the matching security tag, he would need to have his ID checked to see if he is on the pick-up list. Any pastor who values the safety and security of his church members and their children, will be glad to abide by this. If you don’t currently have a check-in and check-out system, I recommend my friends at KidCheck.  They can help you with your safety and security needs.