Mother arrested after two children missing for almost a year are found wearing disguises in supermarket

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Two children who were allegedly kidnapped by their mother 11 months ago from their home in Missouri have been found by police in a grocery store in Florida.

Police in High Springs, 20 miles northwest of Gainesville, said they located Adrian Gilley, 12, sister Brooke, 11, and their mom Kristi Nicole Gilley, 36, shopping in a Winn Dixie store on 1 February after running a routine vehicle license check.

The two children, whose descriptions had been listed on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database, were wearing disguises, police said.

Ms Gilley, described as the children’s “non-custodial mother,” was taken into custody on an active felony kidnapping warrant from Clay County, Missouri, police said in a statement posted to Facebook.

The children have been placed with the Florida Department of Children and Families Services and will be reunited with their birth family.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Adrian and Brooke were reported missing from Liberty, Missouri, on 15 March 2022.

A felony kidnapping warrant was issued for Ms Gilley on 13 July last year.

No further information was immediately available on what had sparked the alleged abduction.