It was a good ending after a frightful saga. The children were found inside a home of a close acquaintance of the father, Jose Orellana in unincorporated Hayward. Police would not specify the relationship or whether the kids were dropped off last night or early Friday morning.
Police said that the kids are safe, and the father is still on the loose.
Seven-year-old Eduardo Orellana and his 3-year-old sister Julisa were safe in the back of a police car.
The two children, who were the object of an Amber Alert and intensive statewide search, were found safe in a home near Hayward on Friday afternoon.
Police believe the children's father, 36-year-old Jose Orellana, stabbed his wife several times at their house in Lemoore, before taking off with the children late Thursday.
"Subsequent investigation by the Lemoore Police Department and the California Department of Justice located a house in the Hayward area. Alameda County Sheriff's deputies set up a perimeter," said Sgt. Marty Neideffer from the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.
Orellana's grey Toyota pickup truck was parked in the driveway of the house. Police later towed it away.
Emrul Akter lives across the street from the house where the children were found.
"I tried to go out and get my kids from school and they said we couldn't go out because there was a situation over there with a kidnapping," said Akter.
Eduardo and Julisa will be interviewed by police and transported back to the Fresno area to be reunited with their mother, who remains in a hospital there.
"It's nice when they end on a happy note, but of course we won't rest until we have a suspect in custody," said Sgt. Neideffer.
The condition of the children's mother has been upgraded to fair condition. She is in a hospital in the Fresno area. Police say developed this location actually working with the Department of Justice through their own investigation – not necessarily from a tip from the Amber Alert system.
However, police insists that the Amber Alert system has been very successful in finding kids safely in cases just like this.
