Amber Alert for 6yr old Jewel Noel Klein

[Turtletop]

ATTENTION: There is an AMBER Alert in your area.
Please CLICK HERE to find out more information.

Missing From: Spring Branch, TX
Missing Date: 11/19/2008 12:00 AM


Contact: Comal County Sheriff's Office
830-620-3400


Circumstances: The Comal County Sheriff's Office is searching for Jewel Noel Klein. Police are searching for Tonya Renee Martin in her abduction. The suspect is driving the listed vehicle. The suspect was last heard from in Spring Branch, TX. Law enforcement officials believe this child to be in grave or immediate danger.



Missing ChildName: Jewel Noel Klein
Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Blue
Skin Color: White Age: 6YO
Height: 4FT Weight: 60LBS
Gender: Female
Description: Wearing a red plaid sundress




SuspectName: Tonya Renee Martin
Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Blue
Skin Color: White Age: 41YO
Height: 5FT2 Weight: 107LBS
Gender: Female


Vehicle Information
Make: Hyundai Model: Sonata
Color: Blue
License State: TX License Text: 404ZNM

[Turtletop]

Comal County sheriff's investigators are searching for a woman they believe severely beat her mother and took away her own daughter.

The grandmother had legal conservatorship of Jewel Noel Klein, 6. An Amber Alert has been issued for the girl, who was picked up by an unknown person driving her grandmother's car at Rebecca Creek Elementary School in Spring Branch in Comal County on Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators believe the driver was Tonya Renee Martin, 41, Jewel's mother. Deputies were called later that evening to the 7000 block of Broken Arrow in Spring Branch, where they found Melba Balantac, 68, with serious upper body trauma.

Balantac had been assaulted a short time earlier, Comal County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mark Reynolds said. She is Martin's mother and Jewel's grandmother.

"She was beaten very badly," Reynolds said.

Deputies were able to communicate with Balantac for a short time, and she was able to give them some information, implicating her daughter, he said. She was taken to a hospital, which could not immediately release her condition.

Investigators realized Jewel was missing only after Balantac was taken to the hospital, Reynolds said. He said Martin was seen driving Balantac's blue Hyundai Sonata before the assault.

Jewel has blond hair and blue eyes and weighs 60 pounds. She was wearing a red plaid sundress.

Martin also has blond hair and blue eyes, stands 4 feet, 2 inches tall and is 107 pounds. A warrant for her arrest on a charge of aggravated assault was issued Wednesday.

Investigators said they do not know where she may have gone with Jewel.

If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the two, call the Comal County Sheriff's Department at (830) 620-3400.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6121828.html

There is a pic of Jewel on this site.

I pray they find her safe and get justice for the grandmother!

[rebel450]

Praying for her save return.

[Silvahalo]

I heard this on my NOAA weather radio, very sad. Wondering if her mother Martin and the assailant is a "little person",
Martin also has blond hair and blue eyes, stands 4 feet, 2 inches tall and is 107 pounds. A warrant for her arrest on a charge of aggravated assault was issued Wednesday. She's 4ft. 2" and 41 years of age, not that it really matters but is an identifying characteristic.

I'm praying this cute little girl is found safe and unharmed.
http://i35.tinypic.com/nqc91.jpg

[Sister Iroz]

Klein is Martin's daughter, according to a Comal County Sheriff's Office press release. Klein was with her grandmother, 68-year-old Melba Balantac, when Martin allegedly assaulted her mother Tuesday evening. Klein was picked up Tuesday afternoon from Rebecca Creek Elementary by an unknown person, but investigators said Klein and Martin were seen Tuesday evening in Balantac's Sonata.

Neighbor Ana Medrano said she found the injured Balantac in the road following the attack.

"I didn't know it was her because she was all bloody," Medrano said. "Her hair was all full of blood."

Medrano and other neighbors said Klein is a sweet girl who loved playing with other neighborhood children.

"She was polite," neighor Lily Torrez said. "Just a little lady. Perfect."

Spring Branch is located about 15 miles north of San Antonio.

Anybody with information about the pair's whereabouts is asked to contact the Comal County Sheriff's Office at 830-620-3400.

http://www.ksat.com/news/18018056/detail.html

[Turtletop]

The mother Tonya Martin was arrested in 2003 for child endangerment. I am not sure if it was her child that she endangered. If so then little Jewel would have only been 1 yrs old. She was also arrested in 2005 for prostitution, she must have been on drugs.

I hope they find little Jewel safe!

[crickett]

God, I pray that they find this little girl safe and sound.

[Turtletop]

I keep looking for updates on Jewel and I havent found anything yet! If anyone else hears anything please let us know!

[Turtletop]

Just found this...Great to hear she is safe and the mother has been arrested for the beating of the grandmother!

A missing 6-year-old Texas girl was found unharmed in a drug house in Austin with her mother, police told FOX News.

Comal County police tracked down Jewel Noel Klein and her 41-year-old mother Tonya Renee Martin Friday after an Amber Alert was issued for the pair earlier in the week, according to sheriffs department spokesman Mark Reynolds.

"The child was unharmed and the mother's been arrested and taken into custody," Reynolds told FOX News.

Police believe Jewel was picked up from school on Tuesday by her mother, according to MyFOXHouston.com. Deputies were called that night to the home of the little girl's grandmother, 68-year-old Melba Balantac, to find her severely beaten.

Balantac was able to give them limited information implicating her daughter in the attack before she was taken to the hospital, MyFOXHouston.com reported. Balantac is Martin's mother and has legal conservatorship of Jewel.

Investigators spotted the car sought in the Amber Alert, followed the male driver and stopped him for questioning, Reynolds told FOX. He led police to the house where Jewel was staying with her mother, and Martin was detained without incident.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456107,00.html

[kratesis]

Turtle you're quick! I work for APD, this is what was released to our newspaper. I'm so glad she's been found safe!

Sheriff’s office releases more details on kidnapped girl

Friday, November 21, 2008, 03:13 PM

In a cooperative effort between the Comal County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, San Antonio Police Department, Austin Police Department, New Braunfels Police Department and other local surrounding law enforcement agencies, Jewel Noel Klein has been located and Tonya Martin has been arrested and taken into custody in Austin, Texas. At approximately 10:00am today an Austin PD officer located the suspect vehicle. A male individual was driving with no other occupants visible. The officer followed the vehicle for a while and then stopped it to question the driver. The male driver led officers to an apartment known to Austin PD as a drug trafficking location. There officers located Jewel Klein and her mother Tonya Martin. The child is reported safe and unharmed. Tonya Martin has been arrested and taken into custody and was transported to the Austin Police Department where she will be magistrated and interviewed on the Aggravated Assault warrant issued out of Comal County. Arrangements are being made for the care and return of Jewel Klein.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2008/11/21/sheriffs_office_releases_more.html

[Turtletop]

Kratesis ~ I had been searching for updates since I read the story...I needed to hear that this precious little girl was found safe and sound! I got online several times a day just to try and get an update on her!

Welcome to the forum! Look around lots of great articles here...