Statewide Amber Alert issued for missing Dallas 18-month-old boy

DALLAS - Dallas police are searching for an 18-month-old boy who was possibly abducted from the Lake Highlands area. The FBI has been asked to assist police in their investigation.

Cedric Jackson was last seen overnight around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in an apartment in the 9700 block of Whitehurst Drive.

Originally, a regional Amber Alert was issued. However, it was upgraded to a statewide Amber Alert late Wednesday night.

According to police, Cedric was in temporary custody with an aunt, who said she put him down to bed just after 11 p.m. He was placed with his aunt sometime recently by Child Protective Services.

The aunt says she woke up Thursday at 6 a.m. and found that Cedric wasn't there. She then called police.

A juvenile witness at the apartment told police that someone who looked like a relative took Cedric during the night.

“A juvenile witness that lives at the location described someone who looks like a relative as having taken Cedric at some point in the night,” said Dallas Police Major. Max Geron.

Officers were able to find that person, but the baby wasn't with him when police found him. That man was taken to jail on unrelated warrants.

Police aren't sure if that man is the one who took Cedric or if it was someone else who looked like him.

"We're going to try to make fliers or anything that can help us find our son," the boy's mother, DiShundra Thomas, said. "We're going to do everything in our power to get him back and get him back safe.

A regional Amber Alert was originally broadcast, which includes radio broadcasts but not cell phone alerts. Officers are searching the area and interviewing Jackson's parents and aunt.

As soon as DPD issued a regional Amber Alert, people who live in the apartment complex began to come out and search the area, which is filled with numerous apartment buildings and backs up to a creek.

Search 1 Search and Rescue staged at a nearby school and used K9s to search the area for Cedric.

Volunteers are hoping Cedric is found soon.

“He’s a baby, and I have grandkids that age, I mean why is there not more people out here looking? We need to find him,” Felicia Bowman said.

“[Police] said they were going to go to every door and ask, but he’s been gone for like 12 hours now. But I’m going to continue to look out for him,” Misty Manglona added.

Manglona said she saw Cedric at the pool on Tuesday having a good time. She can't believe he's now missing.

Police say they are also reaching out to people who had contact with the family before and after Cedric was placed with CPS.

Police and Cedric’s parents are just hoping to find him unharmed.

“My baby is a good baby. He is a good boy. He is a little shy,” Thomas said. “Just keep him safe. Bring him back to us. Doesn’t matter where he is. I just want him back safe.”

Because of the circumstances surrounding the recent death of a Denton child that was found dead in a nearby car after he disappeared, police did search some vehicles as well.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Dallas Police Department Missing Persons Unit at 214-671-4268.