4-Year-Old Nevin Powell Found Safe After Guardian Alleges 12-Year-Old Sister Sanuya Wooten-Powell Abducted Him at Gunpoint in Milwaukee; Milwaukee Police Locate Both Missing Children

A 4-year-old Milwaukee boy and his 12-year-old sister are safe after police issued an urgent alert late Tuesday, searching for the critically missing child and the “wanted” older sister believed to be with him.

Milwaukee police said 4-year-old Nevin Powell had last been in contact with his guardian Tuesday night. Investigators believed he was with his sister, 12-year-old Sanuya Wooten-Powell, and the two were last seen walking southbound on North Fifth Street near West Hadley Street. Police initially warned that the girl could be “armed and dangerous.”

Their guardian, Dominecka, who asked WISN 12 News not to share her last name, claimed she had been told Sanuya entered a home waving a gun and forcibly took Nevin from his bed. “When I say it’s a whole lot, it’s a whole lot, and you all don’t know,” she said.

Nevin Powell

But relatives strongly dispute that version of events.
The children’s aunt, LaTonya McKinnie, told WISN 12 News the siblings were running away from what she described as an unsafe environment. “When Sanuya went home to get her brother and bring him to safety, the guardian made up a whole story — basically an Amber Alert lie — saying my niece was armed and dangerous, and she was not,” McKinnie said.

Dominecka denies any wrongdoing. “For them to accuse me of the kids being beaten, not eating, or my house being dirty — that’s messed up, especially when I took them in to care for them,” she said.

Sanuya Wooten-Powell

Milwaukee police have not confirmed whether a gun was involved. They did say that one child is now in protective services and a 12-year-old is in custody, though they have not confirmed which child.

Authorities added that the incident did not meet Amber Alert criteria. Instead, it activated Wisconsin’s new Purple Alert, part of the Prince Act, named after 5-year-old Prince McCree, who was found dead in 2023. Signed into law in April 2024, the act expands alert criteria for missing children, including allowing alerts for children age 10 and under and permitting alerts even when suspect information is limited.

The investigation remains ongoing as Milwaukee police work to clarify the conflicting accounts surrounding the children’s disappearance.