A child in a Kissimmee apartment pressed a handwritten “HELP US” note against the window on the night of Oct. 26. A police drone spotted it. Four kids got out safe. Andre Janard Smithson, 33, was arrested on false imprisonment and an outstanding warrant.
Family members had called Kissimmee Police that evening after concerns the children were trapped inside with him. Officers arrived at the apartment on Whitestone Circle, knocked, and got no answer. They reached one of the kids through a grandmother’s phone. The child said Smithson would not let them leave and they were afraid of him. A drone went up. Three children were in a guest bedroom. A 5-month-old was in the master bedroom with Smithson and the mother. Around 9:57 p.m. one of the older kids held the paper to the glass.
Chilling handwritten ‘HELP US’ note spotted at window of Florida home – leads to rescue of 4 terrified kids https://t.co/bKXebmVhF9 https://t.co/djCV6c1opX
— New York Post (@nypost) November 12, 2026
Police kept Smithson talking and distracted him. The children left. SWAT and crisis negotiators were already on scene. Smithson surrendered. The mother later said she was not seeking prosecution and denied the argument turned physical, though the kids reported hearing her yell “Stop” and “Get off of me.” Everyone came out uninjured. Kissimmee Police posted the drone photo and called the result excellent teamwork.
The same scrap-of-paper move has ended other ordeals.
In July 2023 a 13-year-old girl walking in San Antonio was ordered into a car at gunpoint by Steven Robert Sablan, then 61, of Cleburne, Texas. He drove her more than a thousand miles, sexually assaulting her along the way. Three days later he stopped at a Long Beach laundromat to wash clothes. She stayed in the Nissan, wrote “Help Me!” in red on a torn piece of paper, and held it up. A passerby called 911. Officers arrived, she mouthed “help,” and they took her out. Sablan had a BB gun and handcuffs in the car. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to 35 years.
In August 2023 a woman in the Phoenix area got into a van with a man wearing a wig who claimed to be her Uber driver. Jacob Wilhoit, 41, restrained her with zip ties and headed toward Las Vegas. At a Chevron in Seligman, Arizona, she handed a yellow sticky note to another customer that read “Help… call 911. Blue Honda van… Going to Kingman and Las Vegas.” The customer dialed. Deputies and state troopers stopped the van on I-40. Multiple firearms were in plain view. Wilhoit was booked on kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and related charges. The sheriff’s office credited the note, the customer who acted, and the quick response.
Family that calls. Kids that write. Strangers that notice. Police that move. That sequence has worked more than once.
In Florida, where the headlines often run the other direction, four kids are out and the note did exactly what it was written to do. Smithson is in jail.
—- The Whatfinger News Team: Sgt Alex and Sgt K – with Grok on edits and graphics
