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Child abduction suspect’s neighbor: “I didn’t think he would ever do anything like this.”

PRINCE’S LAKES, Ind. (WISH)-Police are looking for a central Indiana man more than a day after officers said he abducted his own kids.

The suspect is 40-year-old John Rader. Officers found the kids Monday night and they’re now safe and with their grandparents.

Detectives said Rader took off Monday in a car he stole from his brother’s girlfriend. Officers found the car in Columbus, Ind.

Ella Howard, who lived across the street from Rader, said she’s “shocked” to hear about the crime.

“I didn’t think he would ever do anything like this,” Howard said.

Prince’s Lakes Police Chief Greg Southers said Rader’s kids live on Rozwell Dr. with Rader’s parents. Southers said Rader lived with the kids until he was forced to move out after failing a drug test.

The mother of Rader’s children, Christina Williams, was wanted on drug charges and was hiding from police.

Officers said Monday evening, Rader snuck his kids away from his parents’ home.

“We believe that Rader had taken the boys to a home in Brown County to meet their mother,” Southers said.

Southers said officers tracked a cell phone and found the kids about 20 miles away at the home of Rader’s childhood friend. That’s also where police arrested Williams on unrelated drug charges.

“I hate to say it, but these children have fallen into a deep, dark hole of their parents being involved in drug activity and they’re being passed from home to home. Family member to family member,” Southers said.

“It’s very upsetting,” Howard said.

Howard said her grandkids are friends with Rader’s kids, and she often drives them to and from school. When she learned the boys were okay, she said three words came out of her mouth: “Thank you, Jesus.”

“Their grandparents, they are great people and they love those boys with all their heart,” Howard said. “I have no concerns about them being there at all.”

Officers also arrested Rader’s friend, Kyle Lawson. Police said he lied when they asked if Rader’s kids were in his Brown County home.

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