Police Hunting for Teen’s Kidnapper

Police are searching for a man who kidnapped a 17-year-old at knifepoint, forced her into his truck and then robbed and fondled her.

The teenager was walking home from a friend’s house Tuesday at 6 p.m. through a greenbelt near Slater Avenue and Los Jardines West, said Fountain Valley Police Sgt. Jim Perry. A man approached her from behind, grabbed her neck and put a knife against her throat, he said.

He walked her to a nearby cul-de-sac, where he forced her into his pickup truck and tied her hands with rope. He fondled her and stole $3 from her backpack, Perry said.

The kidnapper drove the truck a few miles away to Huntington Beach in the area of Slater Avenue and Springdale Street, untied her and released her, Perry said.

The girl called her mother, who took her to the police station.

“She was scared she was going to die,” Perry said. “For whatever reason, she was let go and got away before it became serious.”

She described the kidnapper as about 6 feet tall with a very tan complexion, in his late 30s or early 40s and “slightly chunky, with a beer belly,” Perry said. He had short, straight black hair, graying sideburns and a very thick black mustache, Perry said. The man’s right earlobe appeared to have a slit in it, or a portion of it missing, he said. On his right hand only, he wore a glove without fingers. He wore a bright orange tank top and faded blue jeans ripped at the knees, with what appeared to be white paint splattered on the legs.

He drove an older model, dark blue or green small pickup in poor condition, possibly a Toyota, with a yellow air freshener shaped like a tree hanging from the rearview mirror, Perry said.

The girl is doing fine, he said, but is “still emotionally upset.”

Police say this is an isolated incident, with no apparent connection to the abduction of a girl Wednesday in Mission Viejo.