I-5 driver hears AMBER Alert; police stop Idaho man, 2 children

An AMBER Alert was issued, then canceled Wednesday afternoon by Oregon State Police after a driver on I-5 in southwest Washington spotted and called in a van matching the description of one driven by a non-custodial father who allegedly abducted his two young children at a home in Nampa, Idaho.

Idaho State Police issued the alert as they were investigating the alleged abduction of Slevin Reavis, 3, and Estaleyn-Ophelia Reavis, 2, by Joshua Reavis, 31.

Around 2:37 p.m. — 14 minutes after the AMBER Alert was issued — a motorist heading north on I-5, approaching Castle Rock, Washington, called 911 to report she was behind the van and had heard the description on the radio.

A Castle Rock police officer and Washington State Patrol sergeant found and pulled over the van, driven by Reavis, with the two children inside. Troopers said they were in good condition.

Reavis was arrested on a felony warrant while WSP troopers brought the two children to Child Protective Services in Longview. The children’s mother was notified by Nampa police.

The alert had warned, “The children are believed to be in danger of physical harm. There is currently an arrest warrant for Joshua Reavis for felony custodial interference.”

Joshua Reavis was driving a 2000 gold Honda Odyssey Van, Idaho license plate 2CLL484. It has a butterfly sticker on the front just above the Honda symbol and a “tribal” owl sticker on the back of the van.

They had been spotted around noon Tuesday near a McDonald’s in Baker City. Police said the suspect frequents campsites and may be traveling to Seattle “by an unknown route.”

Nampa police said they got a call from the children’s mother on Wednesday, reporting her two young children had been abducted. Detectives reviewing the case “have determined that the children are in imminent danger due to psychological issues” reportedly affecting the father, thus leading to the AMBER Alert.