SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (KNX) — A San Clemente woman’s gut feeling saved the lives of a child and teenager.
On Thursday morning, Julia Bonin was driving her son to school when she noticed three people walking along the Pacific Coast Highway. They weren’t faces she knew personally, but ones she’d seen circulating around social media.
She said she almost considered letting it go, but changed her mind.
“…And I said ‘I have to go back. I think it might be them and I have to make sure,’” she told KNX. “So I dropped (her son) off at school and turned around and headed back north and parked and got out of my car and took a photo and called dispatch.”
Bonin’s suspicions had been confirmed.
The people Bonin saw were 3-year-old Noah Clare, his 16-year-old cousin Amber, and his father Jacob.
The three were at the center of an ongoing search after officials in Tennessee issued an Amber Alert for Noah and Amber on Nov. 16.
The alert was issued when Noah’s mom reported her ex-boyfriend, Jacob, didn’t return Noah after a scheduled visitation. Meanwhile, Amber, Jacob’s niece, was believed to have ran away from home in Kentucky.
On Tuesday, an endangered missing advisory was issued by California Highway Patrol after it was revealed Jacob’s car had been impounded in Orange County.
Thanks to Bonin’s tip, Jacob Clare was arrested. He is pending extradition back to Tennessee.
“…I want to thank Julia for following her instincts, even when her conscience was saying this is probably nothing,” Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said during a press conference.
Bonin told KNX she acted on her instincts because she has children herself.
“When you have an instinct like that…like my friend said, I would have regretted it had I not turned around,” she explained. “It would have lingered with me.”
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