Jessica Ridgeway Case: Police Look for Suspect in Two Near-Abductions
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Courtesy of the Ridgeway family(ARVADA, Colo.) — Police in Arvada, Colo., are looking for a man suspected of trying to abduct two children a few weeks before 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway’s killing to see whether there is a possible connection.
In two reported incidents on Sept. 9 and Sept. 12, Arvada police said an 8- and 9-year-old were nearly abducted, according to police.
“Both of them said they were offered candy to get into the vehicle. In both incidences, they knew to run and tell an adult,” Arvada police spokeswoman Jill McGranahan told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV.
Ridgeway’s body was found on Oct. 10 in an Arvada park, seven miles from her home in Westminster, Colo.
Meanwhile, police in Cody, Wyo., announced that a man suspected in a child abduction case was arrested Sunday in Belgrade, Mont. Authorities in the Ridgeway case do not believe there is a connection.
With no major breaks in the case, residents in and around Ridgeway’s hometown are on edge. A report that a man in a car tried to kidnap a 13-year-old boy in Jefferson County, Colo., this weekend turned out to be false.
The teen believed a man was trying to lure him into his parked car, so he ran inside his home and alerted his mother, who managed to snap a photo of the suspect in his blue sedan.
When the picture was circulated by police, the 18-year-old man in the car turned himself in and explained that he had been trying to get the boy to knock on the door of his ex-girlfriend’s home to get her attention, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Techmeyer told KMGH.
A mug shot of the driver was taken, but he was released after police determined he was not a threat to the community.
“I think everyone reacted just the way they should have, in the light of everything that is going on,” Techmeyer said.
With so few clues, authorities have asked the public for help, urging them to be on the lookout for anyone showing behavioral changes.
FBI profilers believe the suspect they are hunting is likely male and might have recently missed work or suddenly left town. He might have changed his appearance or gotten rid of his car, profilers said.
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