A possible abduction scare struck St. Joseph again on June 30, 1993. The parents of an 8-year-old girl believe that her quick thinking averted her abduction by a suspicious man in the city of St. Joseph. The girl's mother had left the home to run a quick errand during the afternoon. She left the 8 year old home with two younger siblings. The phone rang soon after the mother left the house. The girl answered the phone, and a husky voiced man asked her if her mother was home. The girl replied that her mother was not home. The man then told the girl that he was a friend of her mother's, and that he was going to come over to her house to pick her up. The girl hung up the phone, woke up her napping sibling, and hurried over to the next-door neighbor's house.
A 12-year-old boy from the neighbor's house stood guard and watched the neighborhood after the 8-year-old girl told him what happened. Within minutes, a man pulled up in red car, and walked up to the girl's house. He knocked on the door and left after no one answered. He described the man as having dark, bushy hair and a large belly. He was wearing a red colored baseball jacket and green sweat pants. His car was a large, older, boxy car with rust on the bottom and a loud muffler.
The girl's father arrived at home a few minutes after the incident. After hearing his daughter and neighbor recount what happened, he checked with other neighbors who confirmed the information about the man and the red car. Further inquiry by the father revealed that at least three other neighborhood children reported seeing a similar red car in the neighborhood in recent weeks. The witnesses told the father that the man would typically be sitting in his car, watching children playing. He called 911 and a Stearns County Sheriff's deputy responded to the scene immediately. The matter was investigated promptly in light of the abduction of 8 year old Jeanna North from Fargo, North Dakota just two days earlier. The investigation into the incident could not determine that a crime had been committed.
Paraphrased from St. Joseph Newsleader article from August 6, 1993.