A Georgia Mom Was Shot By a Woman in Her Mom Group Who Then Kidnapped Her Newborn Twins

Gabrielle Rodgers had recently given birth to twin boys when a woman she met in a moms Facebook group tried to kill her and kidnap her babies in broad daylight. Rodgers, then 23, knew the suspect as “Kathleen Daniels,” but police would later identify her as Angela Montgomery.

The frantic manhunt for the attempted murderer—intensified by the desperate search for the newborns—is the subject of the latest episode of A&E series Crime in Progress. The chilling story is told exclusively through police body cam and surveillance footage.

On the morning of May 11, 2021, Montgomery showed up at Rodgers’s home in Savannah, Ga., with the promise of bringing over baby formula, according to police reports. However, when Montgomery arrived, Rodgers said her friend started to grow upset over a missing cell phone. That’s when she fired off three rounds into the new mom: once each in the head, chest and leg. She then took off with 6-week-old Lorenzo and Matteo Rodgers.

Rodgers managed to drag herself to a neighbor’s home. Savannah police arrived shortly after and transported her to a local hospital; she was interviewed by detectives before undergoing emergency surgery.

Rodgers told police she was attacked by her friend, “Kathleen Daniels,” but police were unable to track down anyone by that name, convoluting the investigation and adding another level of complexity.

Rodgers’s sister, who lived with her at the time, was able to provide police with a photo of the suspect, and investigators received a break in the case when a detective recognized the woman in the photo from a previous arrest—only the detective knew her under a different name, Angela Montgomery.

The major development led the Savannah Police Department SWAT team to an address in Rincon, Ga., about 20 miles outside of Savannah, where they safely recovered the twins and arrested Montgomery. During the raid, officers temporarily detained Montgomery’s mother.

“I thought they were hers,” the suspect’s mother told police, referring to the babies. “Today, supposedly she had them.”

During a sweep of the home, officers made a disturbing discovery when they recovered a calendar with the word “twins” written on the day of May 8, 2021—three days before the kidnapping. The .40 caliber pistol used in the crime was also found inside the residence.

Montgomery was brought in for questioning and tried to pin the shooting and abduction on her purported twin sister, Destiny. The suspect claimed she was adopted and met her twin when they were 12 years old.

“Ever since we met, my life has been hell,” she told investigators.

She recounted the events earlier in the day and swore “on everything I love” she got a call from her sister who asked her to meet her at the hospital.

“The first time I ever saw those kids this morning, I didn’t know at the time what happened,” Montgomery said. “I put them in my white sedan, and I drove to my house.”

“The reason why this is so devastating to me is because I feel like I’m gonna be in trouble for something that I didn’t do,” she continued. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have allowed it to get this far, but I also didn’t think that my sister would be bold enough to take [somebody’s] kids.”

A background check refuted Montgomery’s claims she had a twin.

She pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping. Montgomery was sentenced to 30 years in prison and alleged she was previously pregnant with twins but miscarried early in her pregnancy. Rodgers underwent multiple surgeries and was reunited with her babies.