A Fishers mother accused of running off with her 8-year-old daughter in a custody battle was arrested Wednesday evening in Louisville, police said, and the girl was found unharmed.
Jennifer Ansari, 37, was found at a home in the Kentucky city’s south end at 5:45 p.m., Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.
She faces a felony charge of interference with custody.
Daughter Sophia Snow “is fine and unharmed” Mitchell said. He said Ansari surrendered and was “very cooperative.”
An Amber Alert had been issued Tuesday night by the Indiana State Police, four days after the girl went missing.
Investigators believed a woman from Fishers took her eight-year-old daughter to Kentucky after a judge took custody of the girl away from her.
An Amber Alert was issued last night for Sophia Snow after Jennifer Ansari refused to give the girl up. Sophia is the daughter of Ansari and Aaron Snow, who were never married but split up before Sophia‘s first birthday.
Aaron Snow‘s attorney, Rodney Sarcovics, says a judge in Hamilton County gave custody of the girl to Snow about a month ago, and says Ansari was supposed to turn her over yesterday.
Sarcovics says there were circumstances last week which caused some emergency motions to be filed with the court to accelerate the custody exchange date. Specifically, Sarcovics says Snow spoke on the phone with Ansari from Snow‘s current home in Florida last Thursday and immediately booked a flight to Indianapolis because of concerns from that conversation.
The judge agreed to speed up the transfer of the girl, and Ansari left town, prompting an Amber Alert to be issued Tuesday night by Indiana State Police.
Ansari‘s parents live in Louisville, Kentucky, and while they haven‘t seen her or her daughter, her father told Louisville TV station WDRB that Ansari didn‘t think Snow was fit to have custody. Snow‘s attorney says there were hours of testimony taken by the Hamilton County judge that persuaded him otherwise.
The Hamilton County Prosecutor‘s office has issued an arrest warrant for Ansari, charging her with interference with custody.
