Kidnapped San Jose Girl Found Safe

A 9-year-old girl kidnapped two days ago from her home was found alive in a market Sunday night after being dropped off somewhere in the area, police said.

Jennette Tamayo was found in East Palo Alto, about 15 miles northwest of her hometown of San Jose, said San Jose police spokeswoman Catherine Unger.

No other details of Jennette’s condition or her rescue were immediately available.

In Jennette’s neighborhood, where she was kidnapped Friday, residents poured into the streets to hug and celebrate as news of her rescue spread.

Throughout the day Sunday, search and rescue teams had scoured the San Jose area and beyond for any sign of the missing girl. Police said more than 100 volunteers covered a 450-square-mile area, focusing on locations where a kidnapper might abandon his victim.

Police had released a grainy videotape Sunday showing a man lying in wait for his unsuspecting victim, and a quiet neighborhood punctured by screams from her mother and brother as the girl is kidnapped and driven away.

A San Jose police spokesman, Steve Dixon, said that, although the images on the black and white tape are not always clear, the tape shows that the attack was not a random burglary.

“The tape makes it very clear that he was targeting this house,” Dixon said.

The video lacked any distinct shots of the kidnapper’s license plate or his face. The tape, shot by a neighbor’s home surveillance cameras and condensed by police into a 25-minute reel, showed a man pulling up in front of the girl’s home Friday afternoon and going inside.

Police aren’t sure how he was able to enter the house, but believe that he may have gotten in through a broken rear window.

After about 25 minutes inside, the suspect is seen returning to wait in the car. At one point another car drives past, then backs up and lingers next to the suspect’s car. Police said they are looking for the driver of that car but have no information on who it might be.

About 4:20 p.m., Jennette is seen crossing the street and entering the house alone. The man gets out of the car about 90 seconds later and follows her into the house.

Jennette, a playful, smiling fourth-grader with long, dark-brown hair streaked with blond, was generally dropped off by a school bus a few blocks from home, neighbors said.

After 25 minutes inside the house, presumably alone with the girl, the suspect emerges and backs his car into the garage.

About this time, Jennette’s mother, aunt and 15-year-old brother drive up to the house. The aunt is seen getting out and driving away in a separate car, as the boy tries to open the garage door.

He manages to pry the bottom part of the door open and crawl underneath, at which point, police said, he is attacked and choked by the man inside.

Though the attack isn’t visible on the surveillance tape, sounds of the altercation can be heard and Rosalie Tamayo is seen running inside the house to help her son.

Police said the suspect confronted her between the kitchen and garage, and beat her with pans and a ladder.

The boy broke free, and is seen on the tape running outside for help. His mother comes out moments later, beaten and bloodied but screaming for help. The suspect then pulls out of the driveway in his car with Jennette inside and speeds across the lawn, crushing rosebushes along the way.

“The tape is very disturbing,” Dixon said. “It’s very, very brazen.”

Rosalie Tamayo and her son were treated at a hospital and released. They told police they did not recognize the intruder.

The investigation continued in full force Sunday, with local detectives and police officers receiving help from sheriff’s deputies from seven other counties, Dixon said.

Police released a sketch of the man Saturday. They described him as in his 30s to early 40s, from 5 feet 2 to 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds. He is dark-haired and unshaven and wore a gray beanie and a silver-colored shirt. He may have scratches on his face or arms from a struggle with Jennette’s mother.

Dixon said police had no immediate leads and no motive for the kidnapping.

The California Highway Patrol issued a statewide alert for a silver sedan that the man drove from the scene. It had tinted windows in the rear and a loud muffler and appeared similar to a late ‘80s or early ‘90s Honda Accord.