Amber alert for missing Tennessee three-year-old Noah Clare after father’s car found abandoned in California

Police believe Jacob Clare kidnapped his son and fled across country in a station wagon

Noah Clare has been missing for more than a week (Handout/Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)

Police in Tennessee have issued an alert for Noah Clare, a missing three-year-old suspected to have been kidnapped by his father Jacob Clare.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) sent out an amber alert on Tuesday after Mr Clare’s Subaru Legacy station wagon with the licence plate 42MY10 was spotted in Arizona.

Hours later, the car was found abandoned in a parking lot in California, caked with dirt and packed full of camping gear, blankets and Army-style rations.

Mr Clare, 35, is wanted by police in Gallatin, Tennessee, for “especially aggravated” kidnapping and custodial interference. They say he left Kentucky on 5 or 6 November with Noah and his missing 16-year-old cousin Amber Clare to drop the child off in Gallatin, but never arrived.

Investigators said on Monday that Mr Clare might have driven north to Michigan, but on Tuesday the TBI tweeted that his car had been seen in Arizona and then found in San Clemente in Orange County, between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Photos released by the TBI showed clear signs that children had been in the car and evidence that Mr Clare had planned for a long trip.

Amber alerts are special bulletins sent out to as many people as possible in a certain area via TV, radio, text messages and websites when a child is thought to have been kidnapped.

The system was named after Amber Rene Hagerman, a young girl who was abducted while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas, in 1996 and found dead four days later. Her killer has never been caught, though police are still seeking leads.

Anyone in the US with information on the Clares’ whereabouts should call 1-800-TBI-FIND. Anyone who may have seen them directly should call 911 immediately.