Man Held in Granddaughter’s Abduction
A 9-year-old girl was on her way back to Washington state by airline Friday night and her grandfather, a cleric, was in jail on suspicion of kidnaping after he was arrested in Cerritos.
Kitsap County, Wash., authorities said the grandfather, Frederick Aylward, took the girl on a church errand Wednesday, then faked an auto accident. The pair drove down the coast in rental cars until they checked into a Cerritos hotel, where Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested Aylward on Friday and took the girl to the airport.
Lt. Jim Valdez of the Lakewood sheriff’s station said the girl was “fine, just a little tired and scared and wants to go home.”
Aylward, 51, is pastor of St. Mary’s Orthodox Catholic Church, Kitsap County Sheriff Pat Jones said. He said family members told him that Aylward had a fascination with his granddaughter.
Jones said Aylward had been charged with kidnaping in 1978 when he disappeared for several months with his then-wife’s 12-year old daughter, but the charges were dropped.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
