Kids found safe after child abduction in Buffalo Center

     Two children are safe, and two suspects are in custody, following a child abduction last Wednesday, Nov. 23 in Buffalo Center.

     Buffalo Center Police Chief Matt Holmquist says he was flagged down by a motorist at about 4:25 p.m. last Wednesday and alerted to suspicious activity near the 400 block of 2nd St. NW in Buffalo Center.

     A man and woman were seen walking up to a house and acting suspicious. Several minutes later, the same couple was seen leaving with two small children. They walked to a silver SUV that had been parked a distance away from the house.

     Holmquist and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the incident. A babysitter at the house told law enforcement that the two kids, ages three and one, were taken by an unknown male and the children’s biological mother, Ashley Machain, who had brandished a knife.

     Law enforcement began searching for the silver SUV, Machain, and the male accomplice. At 2:25 a.m. the following morning, the two children were recovered safely in Fort Dodge. Machain and the male accomplice, Daniel Smith, were taken into police custody.

     Machain was charged with Burglary in the 2nd degree, a class C felony, along with Child Endangerment, a class D felony. Smith was also charged with Burglary in the 2nd degree, along with Driving While Barred, which is an aggravated misdemeanor.

     Other agencies assisting with the investigation include the Forest City Police Department; the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Iowa State Patrol; Fort Dodge Police Department; Faribault County, MN Sheriff’s Office;  Wells, MN Police Department; Webster County Sheriff’s Office; Ames Police Department; Iowa State University Police Department; Department of Human Services; and the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.