Amber alert for pregnant Minnesota mom ‘kidnapped by killer’ along with her four kids

An Amber Alert has been issued in Minnesota after a pregnant woman and her four kids were abducted at gunpoint by her boyfriend. 

Authorities are hunting for Nikkole Dobson, 33, after saying she and her kids Brandon, 14, Haley, 11, Gracie, 7, and Chloe, 3, were taken by Chad Aanerud, 35. 

In a request for assistance shared on social media, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Aanerud is suspected of killing a man before he abducted them. 

The bureau say that Aanerud is Dobson’s boyfriend, who is also pregnant, and was seen driving a white 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan. 

He is said to arrived at an address in Brainerd and fired a rifle round into the ceiling before forcing Dobson and her children to leave with him. 

Nikkole Dobson and her kids were forced into a vehicle by Aanerud after he arrived at an address and fired a rifle round into the ceiling

In a request for assistance shared on social media, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Aanerud, seen here, is suspected of killing a man before he abducted them

Prior to that, they said he is the suspect in a fatal shooting of a man at a separate nearby address and of burning down a home on that property. 

Officers say they do not know what direction of travel Aanerud went in, and have advised the public to not approach him. 

According to Minnesota state public records, Aanerud has been convicted of multiple felonies including criminal sexual conduct. 

Due to that conviction he is required to comply state laws to register as a predatory offender.  

According to court filings in 2018, Aanerud had failed to do that, which is also a felony, and told officers he had been on the run and ‘living in the woods’. 

Other crimes he has been convicted of include burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and threats of violence.