AUSTIN, Texas — Moments after appearing on CNN, Theresa Nash of Suwanee got a call from a citizen in Texas claiming he was with her boys.
“I was in complete disbelief,” Nash told Channel 2’s Shae Rozzi over the phone as she was boarding a plane to pick up her boys in Austin. “He immediately put the phone to Ben and Henry and I talked to them. They were very, very, shaken up.”
Someone recognized Daniel Cleary and his sons, Ben, 9, and Henry, who turned 8 Saturday, at a motel in Austin, Texas, around 7 p.m. EST. A viewer sent the ABC affiliate in Austin photos of Cleary’s arrest and of his trailer found in the parking lot. The trailer was also featured in news coverage of the Amber Alert involving the missing boys after it was spotted in surveillance video from a Walmart parking lot in Tenn. earlier this week.
“They were playing with a Nerf ball, went back inside, they were with daddy and they came back out and somebody said put your hands up, and everybody put their hands up,” Nash said.
Nash thanked the media for getting the word out and law enforcement from multiple states and the FBI for working together to find her sons.
Daniel Cleary, of Roswell, was arrested at the motel without incident, according to Austin police. Officers say they found two guns and a large sum of money after the arrest.
Cleary failed to return his sons to their mother before Christmas, sparking the Amber Alert.
While Nash was flying to Austin Saturday night to reunite with her sons, Rozzi spoke with friends inside Nash’s Suwanee home.
“We just instantly started crying and screaming,” Susan Gaddis, a close family friend, told Rozzi. “Our prayers are answered.”
They still plan to hold a prayer vigil at 2 p.m. Sunday in Suwanee Town Center Park. Friends say they’ll now be saying prayers of thanks for everyone who helped get the boys reunited with their mother.
WSBTV
