‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ Mother of kidnap victim speaks after he’s found safe

9:45 a.m.

“I want him home. ... I’m here waiting,” Kimberly Valente said outside her home after receiving news that her son Jayce had been found safe in Dublin. She said she hadn’t yet been able to speak with him.

She said she is “on my knees” in appreciation to everyone who shared information on Jayce’s abduction and played any role in his recovery. “’Thank you’ doesn’t even touch what I feel,” she posted on Facebook.

The good news Tuesday came after a largely sleepless night for Valente. “I closed my eyes for a few hours,” she said. “I contacted the detective at midnight and was like, ‘Just let me know something, something, anything.’ and all he could say at 2 in the morning is, ‘It’s progressing.

“I tried to sleep, woke up at 5, 6, in tears ... And then two hours after that, I got the text from the detective and I feel like I can breathe.”

Valente’s sister Venesa said the family has heard that John Cosso and his son Dominic, 17, are with police.

At 8 a.m., deputies from Alameda County Sheriff’s Department took John Cosso and his 17-year old son into custody without incident as they left the La Quinta hotel on Dublin Boulevard, according to Modesto Police.

Detectives with the sheriff’s office along with Dublin Police and in conjunction with Modesto Police had been watching the hotel throughout the night. They waited for him to leave the hotel to arrest him.

“All we wanted was peaceful resolution,” said Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly. “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.”

The investigation continues as Modesto Police are conducting interviews to identify and locate the other four suspects.

More details will be forthcoming soon.

Original story:

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 9:10 AM.