Police Hope Surveillance Tape Helps Lead To Kidnappers

Police said today they are examining security surveillance footage in hopes of identifying a suspect in the abduction of a 9- year-old Riverside girl taken from her home as she slept, assaulted and later dumped out of a car several miles away.

During a news briefing at the Riverside Police Department’s Magnolia Station, investigators said they were examining security video from the area where the child was kidnapped between 11 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday.

Detective Roberta Hopewell told reporters the man who snatched the child has not been identified, though a blue or black pickup truck seen in the vicinity around the time of the abduction may be connected to the crime.

She said solving the case was a “top priority.”

The 9-year-old, meantime, remains in serious but stable condition in the pediatric ward of Loma Linda University Medical Center.

The child, whose identity was not released, was asleep with her older brother and younger sister in an apartment in the area of Pike Street and Herman Drive when she was forcibly taken, according to Sgt. Wayne Ramaekers.

He said the child’s mother — a single parent — was at work and had left the boy in charge of watching his sisters.

The suspect accessed the apartment through an unlocked window, according to Ramaekers. The other two youngsters were not harmed during the kidnapping.

The sergeant would not disclose what happened to the 9-year-old or the nature of her injuries. She was never reported missing.

People living on Giles Court, adjacent to the La Sierra University campus — about 2 1/2 miles from where the abduction occurred — were awakened when the child began knocking on doors, asking for help, according to Ramaekers.

The disoriented girl told officers she had been carried out of her residence by a man, apparently a stranger. She said she was later pushed out of a car.

“I would tell people the same thing I tell them every day: You need to keep your doors and windows locked and be vigilant, know what’s going on in the neighborhood,” Hopewell told reporters.

Anyone with information about the crime was urged to call Detective Robert Hopewell at (951) 353-7124.