Kidnapper sentenced

The woman who kidnapped her two young children from a Custer foster home in May and led authorities on a statewide chase resulting in an Amber Alert has been sentenced to 10 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary for her crimes. Katrina Seay of Rapid City appeared before circuit judge Matt Brown Aug. 12 and pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping in the second degree.
The kidnapping occurred on May 28 when Seay, who was reportedly living in her car in Rapid City at the time, came to Custer and abducted 9-year-old Zyriah Seay and her 5-year-old brother Jeremiah from a home on Harbach Lane, where they were in daycare. After the kidnapping was reported to the Custer County Sheriff’s Office a statewide Amber Alert was issued featuring photos of Seay and the children and a description of her car. After the car was spotted by police in Rapid City where Seay picked up an adult man as a passenger, a 350- mile pursuit began which finally ended hours later at a farm north of Mitchell when the car ran out of gas.
At the sentencing hearing on Sept. 15, Brown sentenced Seay to 10 years in the state penitentiary on each count with four years suspended. The sentences are to be served concurrently.  She was also given credit for the 109 days she had already spent in jail plus any days of incarceration while she awaited transport to Pierre.
Seay was also ordered to pay court costs. In entering the guilty plea Seay did not give up her right to appeal the case.
Seay’s children ended up in the custody of the South Dakota Department of Social Services after they were taken away from her by California authorities earlier this year following a domestic violence incident there between the woman and her then boyfriend. Seay followed the children back to South Dakota and had been informed shortly before the kidnapping that she would not be able to see the children in a supervised visitation because she had violated the rules during a previous visit. Authorities testified that Seay had been able to locate the children using a smart watch she had slipped into her daughter’s backpack during an earlier visit.