Biological mother in custody after baby taken at gunpoint from Mississippi home

An adopted 5-month-old girl allegedly taken at gunpoint by her biological mother in rural Mississippi was found safe Sunday at a military-base apartment three states away.

The woman and her sister were in custody and others were sought in what authorities said appeared to be a kidnapping that sprang from a custody fight.

On Saturday, two women and an armed man wearing masks stormed into Jennifer and Matt Erickson's Mississippi home near the Tennessee and Alabama state lines, Sheriff Phil Crane said. They tied up Jennifer Erickson with an electrical cord and fled with the baby, Madison Erickson, leaving another young child of Erickson's behind.

Jennifer Erickson was able to free herself and called authorities.

Authorities soon focused on the baby's biological mother, Jamie Kiefer. They contacted military police at Fort Bragg, where Keifer's sister Rikki Swann lived before returning to Mississippi when her husband deployed to Afghanistan.

After obtaining warrants, they raided the home to find Madison, Kiefer, Swann, Bell and her child, Keifer's 5-year-old son, and two children of Swann's, ages 6 and 1.

The sisters were arrested. Authorities allege that Kiefer took part in the kidnapping and that Swann helped her afterward. Authorities are still looking for a man and a woman they say participated in the abduction.

Madison was examined at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg and turned over to child welfare workers while the Ericksons traveled from Mississippi to North Carolina to retrieve the girl.

"Apparently (the kidnapping) was related to the adoption of the baby," FBI agent Jason Pack said. "Apparently Ms. Kiefer had changed her mind about the adoption."

Kiefer and Swann were to be transferred to the Cumberland County jail Sunday to await extradition to Mississippi. Pack said they could face federal kidnapping and related charges in either Mississippi or North Carolina. He did not expect them to make an initial court appearance until early this week.