Noah Clare, Amber Clare Found By Good Samaritan In Orange County

DANA POINT, CA — The missing Tennessee toddler and his 16-year-old cousin have both been found safe in Dana Point, Orange County Sheriff's Department reported Thursday. Jake Clare, father of the 3-year-old boy, is in custody, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations said Thursday morning.

Clare, 33, is awaiting extradition to Tennessee while Noah and Amber wait to be reunited with their family members in Orange County, the OCSD Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes said during an OCSD news conference Thursday afternoon.

“I’ll tell you what’s surprising to me — I know we all see those freeway signs that say ‘abduction alert’ [with] details of a car," Barnes said during the news conference. "It’s not very often we get to come back on the news and say, ‘Hey guess what? We caught him.’ It’s a really good feeling."

Clare currently faces a charge of aggravated kidnapping from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Orange County investigators have yet to determine if Clare will face local charges.

The Only Tip That Mattered

Clare's arrest was made by sheriff deputies after the OCSD received a call from a concerned resident in Dana Point shortly before 9 a.m. near Palisades and Beach. He did not resist being taken into custody, Barnes said.

A Dana Point woman reported seeing a young boy who matched Noah's description as she was driving her child to school. She shared her experience locating the trio, and following her gut instinct in Thursday’s news conference.

“You just have to trust your instinct and your gut when you see these things because I almost did not act upon it,” said Julia Bonin, the resident of Dana Point who located Noah and Amber. “I have children of my own and I would want somebody to do the same."

She said she spotted the trio near Doheny State Beach while she had her own child in tow. Remembering the search for Noah and Amber through Facebook, it was "instinct" that compelled her to drop her child off at school before returning to the area where she had spotted the adult man and two youths. From there, Bonin notified sheriff deputies.

"My friend said that I would have regretted it, if I hadn’t turned around," Bonin said. "There are times where you think you see something and don’t say anything... It was very much instinctual, and very much a gut feeling."

Taken Out Of Tennessee

The disappearance of Noah and Amber triggered a massive social media response from concerned residents from Tennessee to California, calling for the return of Noah and his cousin, Amber.

On Nov. 6, Noah was believed to be taken by his father, Jacob "Jake" Clare.

His mother, Amanda Ennis, reported him missing to Beaver Dam authorities on Nov. 6 one week after she delivered her son into Jacob Clare's custody, ABC13 reported. Both he and his son were supposed to travel to nearby Gallatin, Tennessee but never made it there, Ennis said. This triggered a Tennessee AMBER Alert and a public search for Noah and Clare.

Clare's niece, 16-year-old Amber Clare, was also found with the pair, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations reported Thursday.

What began as a Tennessee AMBER Alert took a turn for the west coast after Clare's silver Subaru Legacy was discovered in San Clemente, the Orange County Sheriff's Department reported Tuesday. The car was loaded with bulk food items, blankets and a single car seat.

The car was found after being abandoned and towed to a private San Clemente tow yard, authorities said. The search for Noah and Amber only intensified after surveillance photos of the two youth and Clare in San Clemente surfaced Wednesday.

Now, thanks to the concern of Bonin, Noah and Amber wait to be reunited with their family members after a harrowing couple of weeks.

When asked about how many tips regarding the case were reported to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Barnes smiled.

"I don't know how many tips came in, but there's only one that matters, right?"