Police in Roanoke are looking for a 2-year-old boy they say was taken early Thursday night from a duplex apartment in Southeast Roanoke.

Three men entered a duplex in the Jamestown Place neighborhood shortly before 6:40 p.m., knocked a man unconscious, bound and restrained a 4-year-old girl and took Aveion M. Lewis, police said.

The Virginia State Police identified the injured man as the boy's stepfather, Brandon Lockett.

Lockett said he saw the suspects hanging around their home earlier on Thursday and told them to leave. One of the suspects referred to himself as Tony and said they knew a friend of the Locketts.

Later in the day, Lockett said he heard a knock on the back door in the dining area of the duplex. As soon as he opened the door, he got hit. "All I felt was just a bam," he said. He said he didn't know what he was hit with.

Lockett, who had a cut on his lip and evident swelling on his face Friday morning, said he woke up in the living room just as his wife, Morgan Lockett, returned home.

Morgan Lockett said the first thing Brandon could say was, "the kids," referring to the four young children in the home.

She said she found her 4-year-old daughter bound and gagged in the bedroom, but her 2-year-old son, Aveion Lewis, was missing. Two other young children, both under the age of 4, were still in the duplex and left unharmed.

The duplex was also ransacked, she said. The sofa was flipped, a pile of clothing was on the kitchen table and the house was littered with their belongings. Not taken was a large flat-screen TV in the living room, a Christmas gift to the family.

Morgan Lockett said the suspects left a note demanding $10,000.

Brandon Lockett said the note was addressed to an acquaintance of his, which makes him believe his family is caught in the middle between the suspects and the acquaintance.

"We live a simple life," he said. "We don't bother nobody."

Morgan Lockett said she's worried about Aveion's health because he was born premature and has battled digestive problems all of his life. Aveion doesn't have a lot of fat on his body, so he has to be kept warm or his body temperature drops quickly, Brandon Lockett said. He added that the toddler drinks Ensure formula every day.

"I just want my baby back," Morgan Lockett said. "I can't deal with this."

What to look for: Suspect and vehicle descriptions

The three men may have left the 2100 block of King Charles Avenue Southeast in a large white SUV, said Roanoke Police Capt. Curtis Davis. The Amber Alert said the vehicle may be a 1990s model Chevrolet Blazer.

The child was last seen wearing yellow SpongeBob Squarepants footie pajamas.

Officers patrolled the block late Thursday night, and investigators said they were looking for suspects matching the following descriptions:

• A 6-foot-2 dark complexion black man of medium build in his late 20s, wearing a black sweatshirt, jacket and scarf.

• A 5-foot-11 light complexion black man in his late 20s of medium to muscular build with dread locked hair and slanted eyes, wearing a red Saint Louis Cardinals baseball cap.

• A 5-foot-11 light complexion black man of thin build wearing a black hat with white writing on it, a white shirt and blue jeans. 

It was not clear if any of the suspects were armed.


Anyone with information is asked to call Roanoke police at 853-2411 or Virginia State Police at (800) 822-4453.

Online producer Jordan Fifer contributed to this report.