Suspect in Columbia AMBER Alert charged with kidnapping, stealing a car

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The woman at the center of a Columbia AMBER Alert on Thursday is now charged with three felonies.

The Boone County Prosecutor's Office charged 24-year-old Joyce A. Smith with two counts of second-degree kidnapping and tampering with a motor vehicle. Smith is being held in jail without bond.

Smith was arrested near Higginsville in Lafayette County on Thursday afternoon, about an hour west of Columbia. The Missouri State Highway Patrol issued an AMBER Alert for two children in the car with Smith.

New court documents claim Smith drove away from the Welcome Inn on Providence Road in Columbia on Thursday with the 1-year-old and 3-year-old in the car.

A woman claimed she was driving Smith to a relative's house with the children in the car, and stopped at the Welcome Inn to speak with the children's father. The woman said Smith drove the car away while she was outside.

Smith is currently in custody at the Lafayette County jail, according to documents.