Woman arrested for kidnapping toddler from church nursery ‘planned to snatch another child after’

A woman accused of kidnapping a two-year-old boy from a church nursery was likely plotting to abduct another child in the days after, authorities say.  

Nancy Fridley, 44, was arrested on May 4 and charged with snatching Noah Gabriel Trout from the Riverview Baptist Church in Ripplemead, Virginia, the day before. 

Noah was found safe – and with a newly shaved head – less than 24 hours later at Fridley’s mobile home 75 miles away from the church in Clifton Forge before being reunited with his mother. 

Fridley made an appearance in court last week, where prosecutors revealed she was suspected of planning to swipe other kids – including a smaller child after Noah.  

‘She intended to take not just one, but multiple children,’ Giles County Commonwealth Attorney Bobby Lilly told the Montgomery County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Lilly said inside Fridley’s trailer police found a onesie that was too small for Noah – along with a stash of sippy cups and small beds meant for children. 

The Giles County Sheriff’s Office had previously said Fridley had allegedly been seen outside two other churches in nearby Narrows – New Valley Fellowship Church and Mountain View Ministries – in the weeks before the kidnapping and on the day Noah went missing.

In court last Thursday prosecutors said Fridley had stopped by one of the churches on May 3 and told staff she wanted to pick up her son ‘Larry’ because he was ill. 

She was turned away because there was no child there by that name, according to The Roanoke Times. 

Fridley pulled the same stunt at a church across the street, but was again turned away. 

Finally on May 4 Fridley went to the Riverview Baptist Church, where she spoke to nursery workers and pointed out Noah, saying she was there to pick him up. 

An image taken from surveillance footage showed Noah being led out of the church building by a woman later identified as Fridley. Police said it appeared she targeted the boy at random.

She was driving a charcoal 2007 Chevy Trailblazer with a ‘BOOBER’ sticker on the windshield when she abducted Noah, police said in a statement. 

An Amber Alert was issued for Noah at about 7pm that night before investigators tracked a person of interest to Fridley’s home in Clifton Forge, where they discovered the boy.   

During her time with Noah, Fridley showed him off to her neighbors and introduced him as ‘Bobby Jr’, claiming he was the son of her boyfriend Bobby Lee Taylor. 

She also told neighbors she was gearing up to gain custody of her two boys, one aged two and one younger, possibly setting the circumstances for a second abduction, according to prosecutors. 

Taylor, 42, was also arrested and charged with one count of abduction.   

Investigators later learned that Fridley had allegedly sent fake tips to police in an effort to get them to search further south in Tennessee instead of toward the north where she lived.  

Although Noah ‘seemed fine’, he was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.   

Fridley was found to be in possession of methamphetamine at the time of her arrest. 

In court last week Fridley testified that she has suffered mental health problems including depression over her last month in jail. 

She also said that she would go live with one of her many relatives in Craig County if a judge granted her release ahead of trial. 

However the judge ultimately denied bail and ordered that Fridley be held in custody at least until her preliminary hearing on June 25.  

‘I can’t think of anything that would guarantee the safety of the public at this point,’ Judge Robert Viar said in issuing his ruling.  

Meanwhile officials at the Riverview Baptist Church, where Noah was abducted, vowed to start ‘examining ways to make our campus and facilities even more safe and secure for families wishing to come worship with us’ in a statement to WAVY 10 last month.   

‘We hope that this criminal act on our campus allows other churches to evaluate their own childcare safety procedures,’ the statement read. 

‘We believe that transparency, child safety, and accountability are essential for successful ministry, and we are fully committed to ministering to your children in a safe and responsible manner.’