Police Still Stymied in Mysterious Attempted Abduction of Schoolgirl : Investigation: Three witnesses, whose screams apparently frightened off a man who was dragging the 8-year-old toward his car, have not come forward.

Each day, police investigators here check the clattering Teletype machine for tips to the various cases that come across their desks.

But so far, the machine has come up with nothing to help solve an attempted abduction case that has baffled police for almost a month.

On April 25, police were called to Wilson Elementary School on a complaint that an 8-year-old girl narrowly escaped a kidnaper while she was walking to school.

The youngster, fortunately, eluded the would-be abductor when three other females--either girls, teens or young women--saw the man dragging her to a car and screamed, causing the man to panic and release his grip on the girl.

“The case is still under investigation,” Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Mike Millington said.

Detectives not only do not know who the attempted abductor was, but they have been unable to locate the three witnesses, who may have information that could lead to his arrest, Millington said.

“We have had no one come forward,” Millington said Tuesday, despite a public plea and checks with various area schools. “We have not located anybody.”

Millington said the girl, whose name was not released, was walking alone to school when a late-model blue, two-door compact car pulled up to the curb alongside her.

A man suddenly jumped out, grabbed the girl by her arms and tried to pull her into the car, Millington said. The three females saw the attack, yelled, and the man fled in his car. The girl was not hurt.

Millington said the girl told police she spotted three other girls in the car with the man, but there has been no indication that they were kidnaped.

The suspect was described as about 40 years old, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 180 pounds, with short brown hair and a mustache. He wore wire-rim glasses, a short-sleeved gray shirt and blue denims.

The girl also noticed that the attacker had a red and green rose tattoo on the back of his left hand.

Despite such a detailed description, police have turned up no new clues in the case. There have been no reports of similar abductions since then and police have not received any Teletype messages warning of earlier abductions that may be connected to the young girls in the car.

Police were also hampered by the fact that the Wilson pupil was unable to provide a more accurate description of the license plate. She told police only that it was a white plate with blue lettering, beginning with the number 2.

Although she first told police it was an out-of-state plate, Millington said it may very well have been issued in California.

“There’s not a lot you can do with it,” Millington said. “Unless you have a specific description, there’s nothing you can do.”