Modesto boy abducted from mother's home found safe in Bay Area

MODESTO - A 6-year-old boy abducted from his Central California home by his father was found safe in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, authorities said.

The boy, Jayce Cosso, was found safe at a motel in Dublin with his father and 17-year-old stepbrother, the Modesto Police Department said.

John Cosso, 41, and his teenage son were arrested by deputies with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, and detectives are trying to identify additional suspects, police said.

The boy was unharmed and reunited with his mother, Kimberly Valente, officials said.

"I want him home. ... I'm here waiting," Kimberly Valente saidTh outside her home after receiving news that her son had been found safe, the Modesto Bee reported .

Valente told reporters John Cosso showed up at her Modesto home with a group of people Monday and that one person pretended to be a utilities worker. When she refused to open the door, the group pepper-sprayed their way into the house, she said.

She grabbed her son and ran to the garage where she locked herself in her car, but the abductors broke the window and took the boy, Valente said.

The Modesto Police Department on Monday night issued an Amber Alert for Jayce.

Officials had been watching the hotel throughout the night after John Cosso's car was found there. They waited for him to leave the hotel to arrest him, Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

"All we wanted was peaceful resolution," Kelly said. "We wanted to do that in the most low-key way possible. We didn't want to create any extra problems for the boy so we did it in an way that was the least traumatic."