Teenage girl fights off attempted abduction in Elkhart

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ELKHART, Ind. – A 15-year-old girl managed to fight off and escape from a man who was trying to abduct her in broad daylight in Elkhart on Monday.

It was just before 5 p.m. when the teenage girl left the area of Middlebury and Prairie streets and made her way home down Dr. King Drive near 6th Street in Elkhart.

Along Dr. King Drive, police say the suspect drove up to the girl, put his truck in park, got out, grabbed her, then pulled the girl back in and drove away.

“She resisted and fought back,” said Sgt. Chris Snyder, with Elkhart Police. “They drove for just a couple of blocks and she was able to get out of the car.”

The girl, who was uninjured, ran straight home to West Garfield Avenue, where she told her family what happened. They then called Elkhart Police.

Investigators say the suspect is an older, white bald man who was wearing a black jacket.

He was driving a small two-door pickup truck that the girl described as blue, older, and having a loud exhaust.

“She’s fighting, potentially, for her life,” Snyder said. “You know, who knows what this person would’ve done if he would’ve been able to continue to keep her in the car and drove off and got her to wherever that destination was.”

Elkhart Police are actively searching for the man before he gets the chance to do something that doesn’t happen often in the city.

“We occasionally get something where somebody says, ‘Oh, we saw this car and they were following kids,’ or, ‘Somebody stopped and they were talking to kids,’” Snyder said. “But never anything where somebody is going out and physically grabbing somebody and forcing them into a car. So this is a very rare occurrence.”

Snyder said the girl deserves a lot of credit for remembering the suspect’s description and his truck so well.

He said he hopes the community will now step up and call police if they think they might know who the suspect is.

Anybody with information is asked to contact the Elkhart Police Department at 574-295-7070.

 

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