Kidnaped Girl, 5, Is Found Safe

A 5-year-old girl who police said was kidnaped from the Fox Hills Mall during a family outing last week was found Monday night in Culver City, and her suspected abductors were arrested, authorities said.

Culver City police would release no information about the girl’s condition or discuss the case, except to say that it had been solved.

But an off-duty Los Angeles police officer who spotted Marquisha Shanee Candler in the back seat of a vehicle parked at a fast-food restaurant near Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Avenue about 7 p.m. confirmed that a man and woman had been taken into custody by Culver City police.

“I saw her jumping up and down in the back seat and then made eye contact with the man and woman in the front,” said Officer Mitch Grace. “I think they knew immediately that I was on to something.”

Grace said the vehicle was parked at the drive-up window of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant where he moonlights as a security guard. He said the couple waited until their order was ready and drove away.

The girl “appeared to be in good health from what I could see,” Grace said. “She was maybe a little confused, but she appeared to be OK.”

Reginald Candler, the abducted girl’s uncle, said Culver City police assured him late Monday that “everything was OK.”

The youngster, who lives in Ontario, had last been seen Wednesday afternoon near the second floor entrance to a May Co. store at the mall after going there with her grandmother.