A Clayton County teen who was abducted from her home early Tuesday morning is now back with her family. 
 
 
 
 A neighbor told Channel 2 Action News she saw Ayvani Perez, 14, return to the family home in Ellenwood early Wednesday night. 
 
 
 
 However, Channel 2 Action News has learned Ayvani did not spend the night at the home that she was abducted from nearly 48 hours earlier. 
 
 
 
 Investigators announced in a new conference Wednesday that they had arrested Wildrego Jackson, 29, and Juan Alberto Rodriguez, 40, in connection to Ayvani's abduction. 
 
 
 
 Police said two armed men broke into Ayvani's home early Tuesday and kidnapped her after asking her mother for money and jewelry. 
 
 
 
 Police said Rodriguez and Jackson are not the same men that were pictured in the sketches investigators released on Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 They said the men in the sketches are the ones that carried out the abduction, and they remain on the loose. 
 
 
 
 "We believe those two suspects in the drawings are still at large," said Special Agent Rick Maxwell with the FBI. 
 
 
 
 Clayton County Police Chief Greg Porter said Ayvani was in seemingly good health when police found her and she had been evaluated after police said they located her at a home in Conyers. 
 
 Federal agents wouldn't say how they came to find Ayvani at the Conyers home. 
 
 
 
 Porter said the suspects were captured "through hardcore police work." 
 
 "I want to thank the community as a whole for supporting the Clayton County Police Department and all the collaborations between the agencies," Porter said. 
 
 
 
 After digging into both men's criminal background, Channel 2 Action News learned there was a connection between one of the men arrested and Ayvani's mother, Maria Corral. 
 
 
 
 ICE agents confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that Rodriguez was arrested in December 2012 in Henry County under the name of Juan Aberto Contreras-Ramirez, and was charged with trafficking marijuana. 
 
 
 
 Channel 2's Erica Byfield confirmed that Ayvani's mother was also arrested in that same incident. 
 
 
 
 Drug agents said they found 500 pounds of marijuana in the Henry County home where the Rodriguez and Ayvani's mother were arrested. 
 
 
 
 Charges against both were later dropped but the case indicates this week's kidnapping may not be as random as authorities first believed. 
 
 
 
 Rodriguez is currently being held on immigration-related charges. Jackson faces conspiracy to commit kidnapping charges. 
 
 
 
 Channel 2 Action News dug into Jackson's record and found he has an extensive criminal background dating back to at least 2001. 
 
 
 
 Records show multiple arrests through the years on charges that include assault, child cruelty, sale and distribution of cocaine, marijuana possession, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was also arrested on obstruction charges. 
 
 
 
 Neighbors told Byfield they are very happy the teen was returned safely. 
 
 
 
 "We have just been praying as a community for her safe return and so I'm so excited," said neighbor Fran Pond. 
 
 Pond said she doesn't know the girl but in the day and a half she saw Ayvani's picture all over the place, she felt a connection. 
 
 
 
 "My heart goes out because I'm a mom, so my heart went out to her mom," Pond said. 
 
 
 
 Lucille Howard lives two doors down from Ayvani and her family. Howard just moved to the seemingly quiet neighborhood three days ago. She made a point to hug the teen Wednesday evening shortly after Ayvani returned home safely. 
 
 
 
 "Something like that really shook me up. But I'm going to find out more about this thing because some things don't make sense to me," Howard said. "She smiled, she gave me the biggest smile, she said thank you." 
 
 
 
 Howard says the teen looked calm but tired and glad to be home. Now H oward and other neighbors have questions about the circumstances surrounding Ayvani's kidnapping 
 
 
 
 "Just meeting her today, it doesn't matter what happened, since she is home safe. That's my main concern," Howard said. ||||| UPDATE: The Clayton County teen abducted from her home early Tuesday morning has been found, Channel 2 Action News is reporting. 
 
 Read more about how police found Ayvani Hope Perez and the suspects in the case. 
 
 ORIGINAL STORY: Ayvani Hope Perez remained missing early Wednesday, more than 24 hours after being kidnapped by armed men who barged into her family’s home. 
 
 When the two gunmen burst into the Ellenwood home early Tuesday, the mother tried unsuccessfully to hide her two teenage children to protect them. 
 
 Tuesday evening, family members wre trying to raise a $10,000 ransom to give the men who kidnapped her youngest, 14-year-old Ayvani, after their demand for cash and jewelry went unmet in the robbery attempt. 
 
 Rarely heard of kidnap ransom demands came from two people who law enforcement officials say were strangers to the family before the home invasion. 
 
 There remained a heavy police presence Wednesday in the neighborhood just east of I-675 where Tuesday’s home invasion and kidnapping occurred. 
 
 Two Clayton County police officers stationed at the end of Brookgate Drive were stopping all vehicles and only allowing residents to proceed up the street and closer to the victim’s home. 
 
 Media, which included crews from Good Morning America and the Today show, were being kept well away from the home by officers. 
 
 Additional police vehicles, including a mobile command center, were parked in front of the victim’s home. 
 
 A few neighbors on their way to catch the school bus spoke briefly to reporters about Ayvani. 
 
 “We talked once or twice,” 11-year-old Zakar McCullough said. “I would see her in her driveway, playing with her brother and her dog. We talked about normal kid stuff.” 
 
 He said he didn’t talk to Ayvani much “because she was real shy.” 
 
 “I hope she gets home safe,” he said. “I will pray for her family.” 
 
 Griselda Torres, 15, called Ayvani “a sweet girl” who loves horses. 
 
 “Hopefully she’s okay,” she said. “She’s too young and I know she’s scared right now.” 
 
 Clayton County police Lt. Marc Richards issued the following statement late Wednesday morning: 
 
 “The Clayton County Police Department would like to express its sincere appreciation for the outpouring of support we have received as we steadfastly work toward bringing Ayvani home safely to her family. Our efforts have not waned. We are committed to the task at hand. 
 
 To our law enforcement family, remain vigilant. 
 
 To our media partners, continue to put the message out. 
 
 To the community, the Tip Line to call with information is 770-477-3513. 
 
 To the perpetrators of this heinous act, release Ayvani unharmed.” 
 
 Tuesday evening, more than 150 people gathered in a circle and held hands in prayer at the candle-light vigil at Dutchtown High School in Hampton. Many teens there – holding posters with Ayvani’s name and pictures of them with her – were her class mates from Dutchtown Middle School. 
 
 “I possibly have a chance to never see her again,” former classmate Nina Richardson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “On so many levels, it just feels so unreal.” 
 
 Ayvani’s aunt, Suky Guerrero, told the AJC Tuesday that family members were trying to get the money together to secure the teen’s release. The AJC confirmed the ransom demand with a law enforcement official close to the investigation who was unauthorized to speak publicly. 
 
 Guerrero said she understood the family was still waiting for the money to be delivered late Tuesday. 
 
 Guerrero took her brother, Ayvani’s father, Alberto Perez, 47, to the airport in El Paso, Texas, to fly to Atlanta on Tuesday morning. “My brother doesn’t have a clue. He doesn’t have any money like that.” 
 
 Perez, she said, wanted to be by the side of his ex-wife, Ayvani’s mother Maria Perez. 
 
 “He was devastated, not knowing what to do,” Guerrero said. 
 
 Clayton County Police said the home invasion and subsequent abduction seemed random. 
 
 “It didn’t appear that they knew each other,” police spokesman Officer Phong Nguyen said of the suspects and victims. “They just moved in about a month ago.” 
 
 The FBI and GBI are aiding in the search for Ayvani, and authorities are asking for the public’s help to locate the men who drove away in a gray Dodge. 
 
 The GBI has released sketches of the suspects. Anyone with information on the girl or the suspects should call a special tips hotline at 770-477-3513 or Clayton County police at 678-610-4781. 
 
 “This is the time for the Clayton community and the community as a whole to come together,” Clayton County Police Chief Gregory Porter told reporters. “We’re trying to make sure that we bring her some safely.” 
 
 Late Tuesday afternoon, a quiet buzz took over the Brook Gate subdivision just off I-675 where Ayvani lives. 
 
 As residents and youth who would be Ayvani’s class mates returned home from school, they were greeted by a phalanx of police and law enforcement and representatives from both local and national media. 
 
 Some said they were stunned and frightened. 
 
 “It’s very scary,” said Breyana Walker, a 16-year-old junior at Morrow High School. 
 
 “I’m so terrified,” said Walker, who lives just down the street from Ayvani. 
 
 “I feel like I need someone here with me,” she said. “It could happen to anybody. I don’t know what to do.” 
 
 Maties Otalis, a father of four, who has lived in the neighborhood for two years said he was stunned by the kidnapping. 
 
 “We always have police around this area,” he said. “I don’t expect such to happen in my neighborhood. I feel like moving out of this area.” 
 
 Toni Hill, another resident, said neighbors stay to themselves in the area but Tuesday morning’s incident will make her more vigilant. 
 
 “This situation is just terrifying. We thought we lived in the same neighborhood but we don’t know what’s going on here,” Hill said. 
 
 - Staff writers Mike Morris, and Rhonda Cook and staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
– Authorities are still keeping quiet about just how they managed to find a kidnapped girl "at a residence" in Conyers, Ga.; they're calling it "hardcore police work," WSB-TV notes. In the meantime, however, new information is emerging about the circumstances of the kidnapping. One of the suspects had previously been arrested along with victim Ayvani Hope Perez's mother, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Juan Alberto Contreras-Ramirez—called as Contreras-Rodriguez in the kidnapping arrest—was nabbed in a 2012 drug trafficking case involving the seizure of 500 pounds of marijuana; Perez's mom, Maria Corral, and several others were also busted. Corral's charge was quickly dropped; in January, charges against Contreras-Ramirez were, as well, following a home search deemed unconstitutional. As for Corral, "I think she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," says Contreras-Ramirez's lawyer in the drug case. She was "talking in the driveway" with Contreras-Ramirez when the arrests occurred. As for Perez, "she looked tired, but not shaken up" upon arriving home, says a neighbor. "She was smiling. A look of relief was all over her."