Girl, 2, Freed by Abductors; Police Seize One Suspect

A 2-year-old Inglewood girl was released unharmed Wednesday after being abducted, along with her baby-sitter, by kidnapers who demanded a $300,000 ransom, police said.

The sitter was also released unhurt. One suspect was in custody and at least two others were being sought, investigators said.

The girl, whose name was withheld, was reunited with her family and “was doing fine,” Inglewood Police Officer Gary Luckett said.

Another police spokesman said the suspect, who refused to give his name to detectives, was being questioned at the Inglewood police station, where he was booked on suspicion of kidnaping and extortion. Bail was set at $1 million.

Sitter Handcuffed

The girl and her 26-year-old baby-sitter were returning from a snack break at about 8 p.m. Tuesday and were entering the house when two men slipped in right behind the sitter, Luckett said. The intruders blindfolded and handcuffed the sitter, the officer said.

About midnight, after being driven around, the baby-sitter, whose name also was withheld, was dropped off at a South Los Angeles intersection, Luckett said.

“She (the sitter) felt guns were involved, but she saw very little and could not tell us for sure,” the officer said.

The girl’s grandfather later received a call from the kidnapers demanding that $300,000 in cash be locked in a small safe and dropped off near a South Los Angeles church.

Police spokesman Reuben Taylor said they were uncertain why the abductors thought the family could pay the ransom.

“It’s puzzling why they had any reason to think this family had that kind of money,” Taylor said. “They’re your average middle-class family. Decent, hard-working people.”

Police set up a surveillance at the church after leaving the safe with an undisclosed amount of money inside.

Dropped Safe

“A guy went to the location that only a suspect would know” and picked up the safe, but dropped it and fled when police moved in, Luckett said.

Trailed by officers using police dogs, the suspect was captured at about 4 a.m.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m., police received a call from an official at the Woodcrest Elementary School in South Los Angeles, who said a child had been dropped off outside.

Children at the school said three men in an older-model green car left the child on the sidewalk and said, “She’s missing; take her home,” before driving away, Luckett said.

“We’re trying to get an ID by using a computer to match his fingerprints,” Taylor said of the suspect.