Trial begins for woman accused of kidnapping infant, leaving him outside West Branch store

The trial for a woman who is accused of abandoning her nephew at a West Branch gas station has begun.

Jury selection began on Monday in the federal trial of Kristen Smith, a Colorado woman who faces one count of kidnapping. Smith is accused of taking Kayden Powell, her nephew, from his Town of Beloit, Wis. home on Feb. 6, 2014, when he was four days old.

Police arrested Smith at a Kum & Go in West Branch. Powell was not found with Smith when she was taken into custody.

The following day, on Feb. 7, West Branch Police Chief Mike Horihan found the infant outside the BP station, 401 Parkside Drive, on the opposite side of Interstate 80 where Smith was arrested at the Kum & Go the previous day. Police found Powell in a plastic bin, and reports state that temperatures were below freezing at the time the infant was discovered.

Smith's trial is being held in federal court in Madison. If convicted, she could face a life sentence.