GLENDALE : Police Tie Kidnaping to Domestic Dispute

After a countywide weekend search came up empty for a young woman abducted from a Glendale bus stop by three men, police have determined that the victim was most likely involved in a domestic dispute, officials said Thursday.

“We believe that this is not a random kidnaping and that the victim and the abductors have some sort of relationship,” Glendale Police Sgt. Lief Nicolaisen said of the Dec. 9 incident.

Investigators still want to contact the unidentified victim, described as white or Latina between 16 and 24 years of age with blond hair. On the day of the incident last week she was seen wearing a red top and blue jeans.

Police also made available Thursday a composite drawing of the woman in hopes of finding her or someone who may recognize a sketch of her face.

“The victim may still be at risk of harm,” Nicolaisen said. “We’re still treating it as a crime.”

Based on witness statements, the young woman was sitting on a bus bench at the corner of Los Feliz Road and Brand Boulevard last week when witnesses saw two men jump out a late 1970s, four-door sedan. A third suspect remained in the light-colored vehicle.

The two then forced the victim into their sedan, which made a U-turn and left south on Brand Boulevard toward Los Angeles, Nicolaisen said.

Police also learned this week that sometime before the kidnaping, two witnesses at the bus bench noticed a woman with the same description leaving or being pushed out of a vehicle, which looked like the same four-door sedan, Nicolaisen said.

That person was sitting on the bus bench, crying. She refused a request for help from a Beeline bus driver, Nicolaisen said.

No one matching the victim’s description has been reported missing to Glendale police or has turned up in the coroner’s office, he said.