California man booked for child kidnapping after trying to take children from adoptive parents

GRANTSVILLE – Police have a lot of questions about how a California man tracked down a family in Grantsville, then tried to steal the family’s car with the children inside.

The probable cause statement says the suspect, Tyler Nuckolls, from California, tracked down the home of the people who adopted his children, even though he had been instructed to have no contact with them.  Grantsville Police Officer Alison Peterson says Nuckolls broke into the home and waited with a gun.  The adoptive father noticed something was wrong, then armed himself with a shotgun.  After fighting with the father, Nuckolls reportedly started driving the family’s car with the kids still inside.

Peterson says both adoptive parents did what they could to prevent Nuckolls from leaving.  “The mother was dragged for a way by the vehicle as she was partially outside of the vehicle,” she says, adding, “The vehicle crashed in the driveway, and allowed the parents a little window of opportunity to help get those children out.”

After a chase with Tooele Police, Nuckolls was arrested.  Peterson says, “Some of the charges he was booked on [include] aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and child kidnapping.”

People who claim to be related to Nuckolls say he tracked down the children through social media.

Peterson say the family has decided not to go back to their home, for now.  “It was so traumatizing where everything happened in their home that they reached out to other family members that were close by,” she says.

(Photo Credit :Tooele County Jail)