A woman from Mississippi was arrested and charged with kidnapping in connection with the abduction of two girls from their home in Josephine on Friday, Nov. 16.

The girls, sisters 8 and 11 years old, were taken into custody by Mississippi Child Protective Services and will be transported back to Texas.

Investigators with Josephine Police Department reported that officers were dispatched to a residence on W. Hubbard Street at 1:30 a.m. Nov. 16 in reference to missing children.

Police determined the sisters were lured from their home and taken to a location in Jackson, Miss. With assistance from Collin County Sheriff’s Office, a suspect in the case was identified as Crystal Gaylene Edwards, 33, of Pearl, Miss. who was an acquaintance of the girls’ family.

Edwards was located shortly after 10 a.m. Friday in Jackson and arrested on two felony kidnapping warrants by United States Marshals and Pearl Police Department officers. The children were located in her custody unharmed.

Preliminary investigation showed that the kidnapping was not random and that there is no danger to the general public, Josephine police report.

Edwards is in Rankin County Jail in Brandon, Miss. on two counts of kidnapping and one count of sale of narcotics.

Josephine police thank the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, Pearl Mississippi Police Department and United States Marshals Service for their work on the case.

From Staff Report • [email protected]

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