Amber Alert issued for missing Gallatin 3-year-old

GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation upgraded the case Tuesday of a missing Gallatin child to an Amber Alert.

TBI officials said the charge has risen to especially aggravated kidnapping. Family members were previously frustratedwith police that it wasn't the original alert.

Police said 3-year-old Noah Clare is still missing and was abducted by a family member, 35-year-old Jacob Clare, of Beaver Dam, Kentucky. The 35-year-old stands 6'7" and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Noah is 3 years old, with brown hair and blue eyes. He stands approximately 3'5" and weighs approximately 40 pounds.

Police said it’s believed Jacob Clare left Ohio County, Kentucky, either late Nov. 5 or earlier Nov. 6 and was en route to Gallatin to drop off his son, Noah, with family. He never showed.

Clare was believed to be driving a 2005 silver or gray Subaru Legacy, with Tennessee tag 42MY10. It now appears the vehicle no longer has stickers on the back of it, as was earlier noted.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

On Tuesday afternoon, the TBI announced the Subaru was found in San Clemente, California on November 13. The vehicle had recently been spotted in Arizona on State Route 95 heading toward Parker, Arizona, near the California border. The TBI said the tow company notified local law enforcement about the vehicle on Tuesday.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

The TBI said the agency has reached out to California officials for assistance in spreading the word.

Earlier this week, Michigan police officials said it was possible Clare could have taken Noah that far north. However, they were not spotted in the state.

WTVF

Beaver Dam Police Department Lt. Tommy Phelps submitted the facts of the case to Kentucky State Police, noting Jacob Clare purchased the car in Tennessee.

There is currently no alert for Amber Clare, but her family wishes the agency would issue one for her.

"The state police have been giving me a really hard time. A really hard time about doing it," Amber Clare's mother Jamie Bravata said. "I really think they should do it for any missing child. Not just one that's been abducted or endangered. Even though they moved her to endangered, it should be for everybody that goes missing."

Bravata further believed her daughter was groomed in this situation and didn't leave willingly with Jacob Clare, noting behavioral changes before this took place.

"He made her distance herself from her family," Bravata said. "He made her believe she wasn't loved at home. Just that he was the only thing that would, pretty much, make her happy. She was really close to my brother and his kids, and she wouldn't even go down there for the summer like she used to do. Because Jake was here, and she didn't want to leave him."

Kentucky police officials said they wouldn't issue an Amber Alert because she "willingly" went with Clare. Phelps said her notes indicated she was going on an adventure.

"She did mention in a letter that she was going on a grand adventure," Bravata said. "She did not say it was him, but she didn't know anybody else down with us. We just moved to Kentucky a year ago. They home school the first year. So, she didn't make any friends. No real family besides who's been at my house and him. Without a doubt I know she's with him and he did this."

Bravata said she hoped authorities will change their minds and issue an Amber Alert for her child. But ultimately, she said that the alert for Noah could end up helping police find her daughter.

"I believe it will. It's going to play a real key part in it," she said. "The more people that they reach and see that because not everybody has social media, not everybody has the news. But, they have Amber Alerts, or if not, they're with a friend who says, 'hey we just got those and did you see them.?' So, I really think they're going to help."