Modesto missing boy found safe at Dublin hotel, reunited with family

DUBLIN, Calif. - A Modesto boy who was kidnapped by his father in a violent home invasion was found safe Tuesday morning at a Bay Area hotel.

Dublin police say 6-year-old Jayce Cosso and his father, 41-year-old John Cosso, were found at La Quinta Inn and Suite.

Police say Cosso's vehicle was located at the hotel and police set up surveillance. That's when they saw Cosso and Jayce walk out of the hotel. 

The boy was reunited with family and greeted by friends and balloons following his ordeal. 

Earlier Tuesday morning Jayce's mother, Kimberly Valente, pleaded for the public’s to help bring her son home. 

Kimberly Valente posted on Facebook on Tuesday morning. In her post she wrote, “Look for every man traveling with child. Look for the faces that have been shared over the last almost 24 hours. Please (pray). Please pay attention today. Please look at cars and faces and pay attention to anything that doesn’t seem right. Those are the things that matter the most. The public has the power to bring Jayce home. Any one of you could see them. You just never know. Please don’t scroll past. Please at least share. Please pray.”

Monday evening, an Amber Alert was issued for Jayce, who authorities say was kidnaped by 41-year-old John Cosso.

The alert includes the Central Valley, and three Bay Area counties: Alameda, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa, because Cosso has past ties to the area. 

By 10 p.m., Modesto Police released a photo of a woman, Renee Quijada, as a "person of interest", possibly an accomplice. 

The home invasion abduction occurred at the household of Kimberly Valente, Jayce's mother.

She opened her door at about 7 a.m. Monday to a man claiming to be a utility worker. 

"He had a badge, a fake uniform and everything but it didn`t feel right, he felt sketchy," said Kim Valente. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Valente thought she spotted her ex-husband's car.

Then she was overpowered, and her door was broken by a group of men who pepper sprayed everyone in her household. 

"All this banging noise, and they all charged in and pepper sprayed me, my teenage son, and my sister," recounted Valente. Cosso is believed to be driving a 2012 black Ford Fusion. 

Police believe Cosso was helped by five other people, male and female. 

"Jayce was crying, saying, 'Dad, I don`t want to go with you,' because he doesn`t want to be with his father." 

Kim Valente thought she might be able to escape with Jayce at first, racing to her car with him in her arms. 

"I locked myself in my car, because mentally I prepared for this, rolled-up the windows, and backed-up but there was a car there." 

Trapped, she said Cosso, assisted by his older son Dominic and another man, used metal tools to break car windows and grab the screaming youngster. 

"And they got the doors open and he and his older son were pulling us apart," sobbed Valente, "and I was holding on, and I don't know who got him." 

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636 or the non-emergency dispatch number at 209-552-2470.