Woman kidnaps ex’s kids and threatens to leave them ‘cold in the car,’ TN cops say

A woman kidnapped her ex-boyfriend’s kids and told their dad she would return them when she got her stuff back, Tennessee authorities said.

When the two kids under the age of 13 didn’t come home after school, Nashville investigators believed they had been kidnapped from their bus stop by 30-year-old Jenny Men, according to a Davidson County arrest affidavit.

Then the woman began texting the children’s father “demanding her belongings,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department wrote in the report.

Investigators went to Men’s brother’s house to get in touch with her, prompting her brother to try calling the woman, according to police.

Her brother said the police were asking about her, and Men hung up, police said.

The woman threatened to “leave the kids cold in the car,” according to police. When she learned police were involved, she sent her ex messages that she and the kids were “going on a road trip” and were “going to be in a different state,” according to records obtained by police.

Investigators said were able to ping Men’s phone’s location and found she was heading west on Interstate 40.

A detective was able to get in contact with Men and told her she should bring the kids back out of her own best interest, and eventually she came back, police said.

When she returned the children and spoke with investigators, they said she denied sending the text messages. But when they asked for her phone number, it was the same one that had been sending the messages to the father, according to the report.

Men was charged with two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping of a victim under 13. Her attorney information is not in Davidson County court records.

This story was originally published April 5, 2024 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Woman kidnaps ex’s kids and threatens to leave them ‘cold in the car,’ TN cops say."