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Video captures woman charged in infant kidnapping at mall

The mother played with her toddler just a few feet from the stroller holding her 7-week-old infant at the King of Prussia Mall.

The mother played with her toddler just a few feet from the stroller holding her 7-week-old infant at the King of Prussia Mall.

Cherie Amoore walked by, noticed the family, and stopped to talk.

The meeting on March 31, replayed through mall surveillance footage in a courtroom Thursday, appeared friendly at first. But the interaction turned sinister when Amoore took the baby and fled, prosecutors alleged during a preliminary hearing for Amoore on kidnapping and other charges.

"She waited for [the mother] not to be paying attention," Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood argued. "She took advantage of that distraction and that kindness that [the mother] showed her that day."

District Judge William Maruszczak upheld all charges against Amoore, 32. The case proceeds to Montgomery County Court.

Kidnappings by strangers are rare, accounting for just 1 percent of missing children.

Hours of surveillance footage showing the family's movement around the mall that day were condensed into a few minutes of clips for the brief hearing. As the video played, the infant's mother left the courtroom, and Amoore sat crying, hunched in her seat between her lawyers.

After Amoore and the mother walked around the mall, the footage shows them sitting in the food court with the children, the infant in his stroller next to the table. Amoore swung her legs from her chair as she chatted with the other woman. Then, as the mother fed the toddler, Amoore stood and lifted the infant from the stroller. The mother appeared to consent, even handing Amoore a blanket to drape over her shoulder as she bounced and rocked the baby in her arms.

As minutes passed, Amoore picked up her purse and began clearing trash from the table. The mother turned to help the toddler next to her, and Amoore walked away - the baby still in her arms.

Upper Merion Police Detective Bob Smull narrated the video from the witness stand, identifying a figure darting behind mall kiosks as Amoore.

In another clip, she hurried up a staircase with the baby, taking the steps two at a time "as if she's in a hurry to exit the mall," Smull testified.

After a search, detectives identified Amoore as a suspect and found her with the baby - who was sleeping and unharmed - at her apartment in Tredyffrin Township late that night. Police said she admitted to taking the baby. She told police she did it because she had given birth to her own baby weeks earlier and it had died, so she was overcome with emotion, according to an arrest affidavit filed in the case. It remained unclear after the hearing if Amoore had lost a baby of her own.

Defense lawyer Marc Steinberg said he was "not sure" of Amoore's pregnancy, but told reporters that Amoore had a baby shower with 100 attendees.

Amoore is the daughter of Renee Amoore, deputy chairwoman of the Republican State Committee. Renee Amoore and other family members were in court Thursday, as were several relatives of the kidnapped infant, Ahsir Simmons.

"It is obviously not a case of whodunit or what did she do," Steinberg said, acknowledging clear evidence against his client. "It's a case of why did she do it."

Steinberg said Amoore, who is free on $500,000 bail, is seeking mental health treatment. He declined to comment on her motive for the kidnapping.

lmccrystal@phillynews.com

610-313-8116 @Lmccrystal