For Kenya Moore, being a mom in real life helped her prepare for the heart-wrenching role of a parent whose child is kidnapped in Lifetime’s Abducted off the Street: The Carlesha Gaither Story.
The film premieres tonight and is inspired by the true story of Philadelphia nursing aide Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, who was abducted in 2014.
The thriller stars Riele Downs (Bel-Air) as Carlesha. Moore (The Real Housewives of Atlanta) portrays her mom Keisha Gaither, who made an impassioned plea in the media for her daughter’s safe return, and worked with a committed detective to rescue Carlesha before it was too late.
“I drew on the fact that I am a mother and my child means everything to me,” Moore said at the virtual news conference for the film. “Know that I was already equipped with what I needed.”
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The reality star, entrepreneur and actress is mom to five-year-old daughter Brooklyn, and said she’s already educating her young child about some of the harsh realities of life.
“I have AirTags in almost everything my daughter has. I’ve taught her how to be aware of her surroundings, ‘situational awareness,'” Moore explained.
In November 2014, Carlesha was snatched from a Philadelphia street after she got off a bus. The suspect, later identified as Delvin Barnes, threw the 22-year-old woman into a vehicle and headed south.
Carlesha’s abduction was recorded by surveillance cameras and showed her dropping her cell phone on the ground to alert authorities she’d been taken.
She also used a hammer to smash the window of her abductor’s car, and let him use her ATM card, which tipped police off to her location. Investigators tracked Barnes to Maryland, and Carlesha was rescued. According to Philadelphia news station NBC 10, Barnes was later convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Riele Downs said there are lessons to be learned from Carlesha’s quick thinking.
“These are things that the project reminded me of that I hadn’t been thinking about beforehand… She specifically dropped her glasses, dropped her bank card, I believe, just things like that where you can send messages to people and they will be able to track you,” she explained.
Sam Asante (Reacher) portrays the kidnapper. It was an intense role the actor said took time to shake off.
“Even after shooting, it was hard to get back to reality,” he explained. “But thank God, I have a great support system around me, like my wife, my family, my friends, they were able to pull me back to reality,” Asante said.
While the events in the film are at times distressing, Moore noted that it also carries a positive message about survival.
“What I loved about this story is that Carlesha stayed calm and she was thinking. Obviously, you would be upset, disturbed in a fragile state, but I always teach my daughter, number one, to stay calm,” she said. “That is what led [Carlesha] to think her way through a situation… she was able to say, ‘How do I save myself?'”
Abducted off the Street: The Carlesha Gaither Story premieres Saturday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.
