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After 3 Attempted Kidnappings, Phoenix Police Reach Out

A composite drawing of a possible Hispanic male suspect.
(Photo courtesy of the Phoenix Police Department)
A composite drawing of a possible Hispanic male suspect.

Police are boosting patrols in West Phoenix and meeting with residents Tuesday night, after a string of kidnapping attempts in Maryvale.

The department wants to get information out to people who live in the area, “with pictures, with composite (drawings), with the vehicle descriptions we have had,” Spokesman Trent Crump said.

In every case, the girls involved were able to avoid the would-be kidnappers. The first victim, a 14 year old, was physically “bear hugged” outside her home and brought into a stranger’s car, but quickly let go, Crump said. That incident happened Feb. 6.

Since then, police have recorded two similar cases within one-square-mile. The latest attempted happened Feb. 20. The vehicle in every case was different, Crump said, but there is some reason to believe the same person may be responsible.

“When the independent victims in the first two (cases) did composite forensic drawings with our artists, when we got that back, there was a striking similarity in the depiction of the suspects given by those two different girls,” he said.

Investigators are looking for a Hispanic male with a pierced nose in his 30s or early 40s. Crump would not say how much the department has increased patrols in the area.

Peter O’Dowd was a reporter and news director at KJZZ from 2009 to 2014.