Evansville Police Searching for Suspect in Attempted Kidnappping

In a story that as a father of two young children makes me sick to my stomach and erodes what little trust I have in other human beings, the Evansville Courier & Press reports today that Evansville Police are on the hunt for a man they say lured a child into his car and committed a sexual assault before the child was able to escape.

According to Sgt. Jason Cullum, the alleged assault took place around 5 p.m. in an alley near Maxwell Avenue and Elliott Street, about three blocks east of Garvin Park when the suspect described as a light-skinned black male with black hair and a beard wearing a red and white shirt with vertical stripes, pulled up on two children walking down the alley in a maroon, four-door vehicle with a tan or brown interior and tinted windows and struck up a conversation eventually luring one of them into his vehicle.

After the vehicle pulled away, the other child ran to the house of the abducted child and told whoever was home what had taken place. I assume that person then notified police.

The abducted child was not in the vehicle long, but told police that a sexual assault had taken place inside the vehicle before they were able to escape. Cullum declined to say how the child escape in his statement to the Courier-Press, nor would he comment on the age and gender of the children, however he did say the suspect was a stranger to the two children.

Police have added extra patrols to the area today and are asking the public for any information leading to the whereabouts of the suspect. If you have any information regarding this case, call 911 or the Evansville Police Department's Tip Line at 812-435-6194.

To me, the key aspect in this story is that this sleeze-bag (to put it extremely mildly) was a "stranger" to the children. I don't know about you, but this serves as a reminder to me that I need to sit down with my 7 and 5 year old tonight and reiterate the fact that they are to NEVER talk to strangers unless my wife and I are present.

[Source: Evansville Courier & Press]