A 32-year-old woman is facing a kidnapping charge after she allegedly grabbed a 3-year-old boy at a Knoxville apartment playground and refused to put him down, while the child's caretaker tried to intervene. Knoxville police say Alexis Crespo approached the woman watching the boy, asked to borrow her phone, then bolted toward the child once the woman tried to take the phone back.
According to WBIR, officers responded to 3807 Middlebrook Pike just before 11 a.m. Monday after a report of a kidnapping. The address places the incident at Big Oak Apartments, an affordable multi-family rental community along the Middlebrook Pike corridor managed by Evergreen Real Estate Group.
Chase Around a Tree Ends With Child Recovered
Per the warrant cited by the station, Crespo tried to run when the woman attempted to retrieve her phone, then rounded a nearby tree and picked up the 3-year-old before refusing to let go of him. The woman grabbed Crespo by the sleeve and walked her to the complex office, the report states. The child was not reported injured, though warrant documents state that Crespo placed him at risk of bodily harm.
Crespo was taken to Knoxville police headquarters for an interview and later booked into the Knox County jail on the kidnapping charge, per the warrant detailed in the outlet's report. As is standard in ongoing criminal cases, Crespo is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court, and the warrant allegations against her remain unproven.
What Tennessee's Kidnapping Statute Requires
Tennessee defines kidnapping under state law as false imprisonment that exposes a victim to a substantial risk of bodily injury, which requires proof that a person knowingly removed or confined someone unlawfully to interfere with their liberty, according to Justia Law. That offense is classified as a Class C felony carrying three to 15 years in prison and fines up to $10,000, as explained by FindLaw.
The charge against Crespo differs from aggravated kidnapping, a Class B felony punishable by eight to 30 years in prison that applies when aggravating factors such as a dangerous weapon or physical injury are present, per Justia Law. No such factors have been described in Crespo's case.
National Data Shows Such Abductions Are Rare
Non-family abductions represent roughly 1 percent of missing-children cases reported to NCMEC, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, making them the rarest category of missing children cases the organization tracks. Its risk-factor data on attempted abductions by individuals unknown to the child says the attempts most often occur on the street while children are playing, walking or riding bikes.
In August, officers arrested another suspect on aggravated kidnapping and domestic assault charges after going to his home to serve warrants; officers searched the home and recovered an AR-15 after he came outside and before taking him into custody, a case Hoodline previously covered.
Knoxville's Broader Crime Trends
The alleged playground incident also comes amid a broader decline in violent crime citywide. Knoxville Police Department preliminary statistics for 2025 showed a 26 percent drop in homicides and a 27 percent decrease in non-fatal shootings, though aggravated assaults rose 2 percent year over year. The department later reported zero homicides during the first quarter of 2026, the city's first homicide-free first quarter since 1988.
