Montana man accused of kidnapping daughter

A Northwest Montana man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping his non-custodial daughter last weekend in Kansas.

According to a story in the Jefferson City News Tribune, 8-year-old Dakota Sky Autumn Leigh was listed as missing for much of Sunday before she was found safe Sunday night, and her suspected abductor, 59-year-old Gilbert John Leigh, was taken into custody.

"Based on information obtained in the ongoing investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and Russell, Kansas, police were able to contact the suspect at a hotel in their jurisdiction," Jefferson City Police Department spokesman Lt. David Williams said in a news release. "During Sunday's investigation, authorities learned that Gilbert Leigh had borrowed a vehicle in Montana in order to travel to Jefferson City. He was taken into custody without incident for an outstanding warrant issued earlier in Cole County.”

An agreement was made for the daughter to spend the night with him in a hotel and they were gone in the morning. There were no signs of a struggle in the hotel room and no signs they stayed there for any period of time.

As of Sunday night, Gilbert Leigh was being held in the Russell County, Kansas, jail for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Extradition procedures were being made for his return to Missouri and arrangements were being made to reunite the child with her mother.