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Alex Cabrero ReportingThe attempted abduction of a 13-year old Willard girl turns out to be false. Police say the girl made up the story to avoid getting in trouble for coming home late.
Willard's police chief today said this attempted abduction is a hoax. A lot of people in Willard were worried someone was going around trying to kidnap children. Today, they can all feel at ease.
When the 13-year old girl first told her story to police investigators from all across Box Elder County got on it right away.
James Summerill, Chief, Willard Police Dept.: "It took us eight days of intensive investigations to get to that conclusion."
And that conclusion is it was a hoax, no man tried grabbing her on Center street in Willard, the young girl made it all up.
James Summerill: "She come clean and indicated to us that yeah, it was a fabricated story. She had fabricated it because she knew she was going to get in trouble for coming home late from school."
When this first supposedly happened next to Willard Elementary School, the Box Elder schools superintendent sent letters to all the schools, asking teachers to be aware of students' surroundings. Even though this did turn out to be a hoax, he says that message is still valid.
James Summerill: "It's good to know it wasn't an actual situation because now we know we don't have to find a suspect that tried to grab a girl."
Of course, police took it seriously. In the summer of 2005 in West Haven, not too far away from Willard, a 12-year old girl fought off a man who was trying to kidnap her.
MicKenzie Smith, Escaped Kidnapping: "I started hitting him and calling him names and just yelling at him and about 100 yards up the road, he stopped and yelled at me to get out."
Smith received a national courage award in Washington, DC for her actions. Her attacker, Damon Christ, is now serving 10 years in jail.
And just last week in Weber County a young boy claims a man tried to kidnap him while he was waiting for school. Police are still investigating that case.
