Bay Area Police Seek Kidnaper Similar to Oceanside Suspect

Oceanside detectives Friday were pursuing a lead from Hayward, Calif., authorities who say a drawing of the blond man believed to be Leticia Hernandez’s kidnaper resembles a suspect they’re seeking in a 1988 abduction case there.

“Their suspect is very, very similar in some respects to the one we have,” said Dan Ahrens, one of several detectives searching for Hernandez, a 7-year-old Oceanside girl who disappeared near her home Dec. 16.

Ahrens noted, however, that “composites only deal with the neck up. The rest of the physical descriptions (of the two suspects) do not match,” he said.

“The suspect in our case is in his late teens, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and weighs about 250 pounds,” Ahrens said. “Their suspect is about 150 pounds, 18 years older, and 4 inches taller.”

Ahrens said he has received numerous calls, particularly from the Bay Area, since the composite drawing was released Wednesday to media and law enforcement agencies throughout the West. The sketch is of a heavy-set man with scraggly blond hair whom a witness saw with Leticia at a Buckman Springs rest area on Interstate 8 the night of her disappearance.

Hayward authorities noticed similarities between the drawing of the suspect and a blond man they are seeking who abducted Michaela Garecht, 9, in front of a supermarket in November, 1988. The Garecht case remains unsolved.

“We’re still pursuing this lead, we are leaving no stone unturned,” Ahrens said. The search for Leticia has expanded to include Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, he said.