Police identify suspected kidnapper as a woman


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Sandra Yi reportingPolice are investigating an attempted kidnapping at the Salt Lake City Library. There was originally some confusion about the suspect's gender, but police now say surveillance video shows the suspect is a woman.

Yesterday afternoon, two sisters, ages 5 and 8, were in the library with their mother and older sister. The mother was in a different area.

Police identify suspected kidnapper as a woman

"She had put a different daughter, an older daughter, in charge of the two younger ones," said Detective Jeff Bedard, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

They got separated. The girls say a woman wearing a sparkly skirt grabbed them by their wrists. "The 8-year-old girl told the suspect that she didn't want to go with the suspect, but that did nothing to stop the suspect from pulling them toward the exit," Bedard said.

The woman let go when she saw a security officer. Beth Elder, director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, said, "We have security all of the hours that the library is open, who are moving around the building at all times, and I think this happened to be a serendipitous moment in which the security guards encountered something that seemed unusual and were able to stop anything that was happening."

The officer saw a person matching the description heading north on 200 East, crossing the TRAX platform, but thought the "she" may have been a "he."

Police identify suspected kidnapper as a woman

Police have since studied the library's surveillance video and determined the suspect is a female. They say that the video shows the woman holding the girls' arms and trying to leave the library with them.

Tooele resident and Salt Lake Library patron Ellen Parker said, "We tell the kids: ‘This is a different setting down here in Salt Lake, downtown here, than it is where we live.' And we don't leave them here unsupervised," she said.

Police believe they know who the female suspect is and are currently searching for her. Meanwhile, they're reminding parents to keep a close eye on their children.

"We'd like to think we have a little bit of safety in the fact that we're in a crowded public place, and that's not necessarily the case, and I think this situation proves that fact," Bedard said.

The girls' mother spoke to Eyewitness News this afternoon. She wants parents to know anything can happen, so she's urging parents to talk to their children about stranger danger and to make sure someone is with their children at all times.

E-mail: syi@ksl.com

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