http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Whittier-Police-Search-for-Kidnapper-192544951.html
Wait! What?????
- The suspect makes at least 3 attempts at abduction within 2 weeks, one of them successful.
- There apparently is a 4th successful abduction as well since there was already a crying child in the back seat during the susccessful 3rd attempt.
- The same car is described in the 3 attempts - a red convertible, tan roof, with a dent in the rear.
- All 5 apparent victims have gotten away from the suspect.
- There is an unidentified young victim who reportedly got away, but now cannot be found.
- There has been a published description of the suspect, including a sketch. The desciption included a distictive tattoo of 3 dots on the suspect's hand.
- There has been no report of a reward offered to identify the suspect.
That seems like a very distinctive car to me. It seems likely it would be easy to spot, unless it is being kept in a garage.
The the report of a distinctive tattoo on the suspect's hand seems like it would identify him quickly, at least to his family/friends/acquaintances. I suppose it could have been magic marker or even dirt stain that made the 3 dots and not a tattoo at all.
The suspect seems inept to have let at least 4, possible 5 victims escape to bear witness against him.
Regarding the unidentified/unlocated 5th victim, could it be that 1)she was quickly recaptured by the suspect after the escape when she ran in the opposite direction from the victim who reported seeing her in the car OR 2)she is a family member of the suspect and they became reunited after the escape OR 3)the victim who reported seeing her was hallucinating, and imagined seeing a phantom victim in the car with her as a way to cope with the terror she was undoubtedly feeling in the moment?
This is a very very unusual case. The pieces of info we have do not fit together.
While I speculate on the questions I posed above, I am leaning MORE toward some possible faulty reporting of the facts thus far as an explanation. Several recent cases have left me realizing that the news we get about these crimes ALWAYS changes as days and weeks go on. We often go on wild goose chases in trying to sleuth particulars that have been reported, and then later find the info as reported was dramatically inaccurate.
I guess we will just have to wait and see on this one.