Cal Ripken Jr. Seeks Help in Finding Mom’s Abductor
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MIKE THEILER/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. says his mother feels violated and has not been able to return to her home since being abducted at gunpoint there earlier this month.
“She’s not back in her home yet, so I guess that gives you some indication of how she’s feeling,” Ripken said Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America. ”Her sense of security is violated.”
“She’s a tough woman, but it’s a very traumatic ordeal,” he said.
Vi Ripken, 74, was abducted at gunpoint from her home northeast of Baltimore the morning of July 24. Police say the suspect, who remains at large, approached her and used a handgun to force her into her 1998 Lincoln Town Car.
Around 8:30 p.m. that day, the Aberdeen, Md., police received a phone call from the Baltimore County Police about a suspicious vehicle parked on private property. By the time officers arrived, the vehicle was gone but using the license plate number provided in the call, the car was tracked to Mrs. Ripken, Lt. Fred Budnick told ABC News.
“We didn’t even know that mom was missing until a 911 call came in that identified her car,” Cal Ripken said Friday. “She was doing her normal day’s activities. She got up very early and was met in her garage at gunpoint and tied up and put in her car. She was driven around for about 23 hours.”
At around 6:15 a.m., the next morning, Vi Ripken was “located unharmed in her vehicle in close proximity to her residence,” police said.
“Who knows what actually happened in the car for that period of time,” Cal Ripken said. “Mom tries to articulate it, but really it was just her trying to stay calm and her trying to hope and believe that she was going to be returned.”
Ripken, a baseball icon who played shortstop and third base for the Baltimore Orioles for 21 years, said his family and police have not been able to determine if there was a motive behind the abduction, possibly linked to his famous name.
“All indications are there was no real reference to mom or the name,” he said. “It could be anything and that’s the bizarre nature of this case is that it could be a random act or it could be one that was much deeper than that.”
Police on Tuesday released a surveillance video that shows the suspect at a nearby store during the time Vi Ripken was missing.
The surveillance video, from a store in Anne Arundel, Md., shows a man wearing dark pants, a white shirt, and a red and black baseball cap. The man fits the police department’s description of the suspect being white, tall, thin and in his 30s or 40s.
Investigators have released a composite sketch of the suspect. The investigation is ongoing, and police are offering a $2,000 reward for any tips that lead to a conviction.
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