A Lakeville family of four missing since late last week was found alive early Tuesday inside a vehicle in south Minneapolis, and the parents of two young children were subsequently taken to jail, police said.
A call from a Minneapolis resident who spotted a suspicious vehicle behind a building on the 2600 block of 26th Avenue S. around 3:10 a.m. led officers to Zachariah Daniel Wilson, 38, Angela Dee Robinson, 33, and their two children, ages 7 and 4, who had not been seen since Thursday, said Sgt. Catherine Michal of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Officers approached a 2015 Toyota Camry that matched the description of a car that Lakeville police had been looking for over the past five days. The car took off, but police were able to stop it a short distance away, Michal said.
The four family members were inside the car. They were taken to the Third Precinct, Michal said.
"All are safe and police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding their disappearance," said Lakeville Police Chief Jeff Long in a statement.
By midmorning Tuesday, Wilson and Robinson were being held in lieu of bail in the Dakota County jail on probable cause of neglect or child endangerment, the county's jail roster showed.
Long thanked the Minneapolis and St. Paul Police departments, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the public for helping track down leads and investigating sightings of the family reported overnight.
In the past five years, Wilson has been convicted of second-degree drunken driving, fourth-degree damage to property and a handful of traffic violations, court records show. In March, he was convicted of threatening a West St. Paul police officer who had arrested him for drunken driving, telling the officer that he could track the officer anywhere and that the officer should not mess with gangs, according to a criminal complaint.
Last week's episode started after Wilson had borrowed a car from his mother on Thursday and told her he would pick her up from work. He never did. On Friday, Wilson talked with his mother, telling her he would be back in a few hours, but he never showed up, according to a missing person alert issued by Lakeville police.
It's not clear why the family was missing or where they have been since Thursday.
The case is now in the hands of the Dakota County attorney's office for review and formal charging, said Monica Jensen, a spokeswoman for the office.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
