Mother’s plea: ‘Please pay attention. ... The public has the power to bring Jayce home.’

An Amber Alert was issued Monday night in the parental abduction of Modesto 6-year-old Jayce Cosso. It is in effect for Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

Jayce was abducted Monday morning by his father from his mother’s home on Poinsettia Drive, off West Union Avenue between Tully Road and McHenry Avenue. John Cosso, 41, was with two other men and three women when they all forced their way into Kimberly Valente’s home at about 7:30, police said.

Valente posted a plea on her Facebook page Tuesday morning: “Look for every man traveling with child. Look for the faces that have been shared over the last almost-24 hours. Please 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.”

While a couple of the suspects have been identified, the Amber Alert names only John Cosso. He is white, 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Cosso has a shaved head and tattoos on his face. He was last seen driving a 2012 black Ford Fusion, with California license plate number 8BDY654. A Facebook page for Cosso, last updated in July 2017, said he lived in Oakland.

Valente’s Facebook post includes a screen snap of someone else’s post, which reads, “This is so scary, this guy just came into my work last week looking for makeup to fully cover his tattoos.”

Jayce is 2 feet, 6 inches tall, 35 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black Transformers T-shirt and green camouflage shorts. He is a kindergartner at Enslen Elementary School.

Family members told police one of the males with John Cosso was his 17-year-old son, Dominic. Monday night, police posted on Facebook a photo of Renee Quijada, whom they identified as a person of interest in the case. Valente said Quijada is also known as Renee King.

We’ll have more information as it’s available.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of John, Jayce or Dominic Cosso or Renee Quijada is urged to contact the Modesto police nonemergency dispatch number at 209-552-2470 or Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636. Anyone who spots Cosso’s Ford should call 911.

This story was originally published September 25, 2018 at 7:14 AM.