Man charged with parental kidnapping in Lee’s Summit Amber Alert

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Lee’s Summit man faces charges after an Amber Alert earlier this week.

Justin Smith, 37, is charged with parental kidnapping and first-degree harassment.

The probable cause statement for the incident reports Smith and the mother of his child, a 9-month-old baby girl, argued Saturday evening at a local business, resulting in Smith taking the infant home and locking the mother out.

When the mother realized she could not get in, she spent the night at a local hotel. In the meantime, Smith packed up his items into the woman’s car.

At about 3 a.m., Smith told the woman over the phone he was angry she was not home and accused her of being at the hotel with another man, the probable cause stated.

When the mother arrived home early that morning, she saw her vehicle was packed with Smith’s items and their baby.

Smith drove off and spent the entire day away from their home. The woman requested he bring back the baby and her vehicle multiple times, eventually contacting police. However, Smith refused and even lied via text that he had returned the vehicle.

By 11 a.m. Monday, the baby and vehicle had yet to be returned. Smith had texted that he was not going to return the baby because they were going to Texas. He also claimed he was going to self-harm.

Police were unable to ping Smith’s phone because he had turned it off. Smith also disconnected the vehicle’s Ford Connect so he could not be tracked. Those factors led to the Amber Alert being issued.

Monday afternoon, Blue Springs police spotted the vehicle and pulled Smith over, where the baby was located safely.

Smith admitted to detectives that he made statements of having no intent to return the baby, as well as lying to the mother that the baby was injured. He also claimed he made other false statements to “get a reaction out of her,” among other harsh comments about the mother.

The probable cause included that Smith is a convicted felon and was recently incarcerated from 2018 through 2026. Smith also has a pending felony domestic violence case from June concerning the mother of his child.

Smith is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on a $20,000 (10%) bond.

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