Memphis Girl, 11, Abducted, Raped, And Thrown In Ditch While On The Way To School


An 11-year-old Memphis girl was hit by an SUV, abducted, raped, and tossed into a ditch by Larry Ward, police investigators say. The unidentified girl was walking to school when Ward, a 20-year-old black man, allegedly kidnapped her.

Larry Ward has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, rape of a child, and aggravated assault. The 11-year-old Memphis girl was on her way to Geeter Middle School when a blue SUV hit her around 7 a.m. on Monday morning, the Daily Mail reports.

The young Memphis girl told police before she could reach her bus stop the SUV appeared. The driver eventually got out of the vehicle and forced her inside, the child rape victim added. According to her comments to police officers, she was brutally sexually assaulted before the man drove away.

“I got raped,” the 11-year-old Memphis girl told Cameron Fifer when he discovered her crying along the side of the road while on his way to work. Fifer reportedly found the girl just a few minutes after she was sexually assaulted.

“Man, phew. Her face. Something just struck fear in her definitely,” Cameron Fifer told LocalMemphis.com. “She was like, ‘I was hit by a truck, a blue truck, and the guy proceeded to rape me.'”

The 11-year-old girl was transported to a local hospital after the police and EMS responded to the scene. During an interview with WTKR, the Memphis girl’s mother said her daughter was left battered and bruised.

“He snatched her, put her in the truck, raped her, and then dropped her off over here,” the girl’s mother told reporters when pointing to the spot where her child was found.

Larry Ward was arrested after police officer found his Santa Fe Hyundai just two miles from where the child rape reportedly occurred. Ward’s SUV matched the girl’s description of the vehicle she was pulled into and raped. The accused rapist’s clothing and physical appearance also matched the details the victim shared with the investigating officers.

Ward’s criminal record reportedly includes a burglary arrest last year. The Memphis rape suspect was also arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license earlier this year.

The Memphis Police Department made the rape case a “top priority” and searching the area around the scene for several hours before locating the suspect.

“He’s our top priority. I mean, anytime you have anything like that happening with juveniles, kids on the way to school…kids are our prized possession,” Lt. Col. Gregory Sanders told the local media.

Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings said he is glad the officers were able to work together so quickly and bring at least some closure to the little girl and her family.

“That broke my heart to imagine that a little innocent 11-year-old girl on the way to school was brutally attacked by anyone,” Director Rallings said during an interview with WMC.

Thepeleton Richmond lives in the neighborhood where the 11-year-old girl was raped. He said the area is a “family community.”

“We never had issues like that over here. Never ever. Not issues about rape,” Richmond added.

Both the Shelby County School District and the Memphis Police Department are urging students to be careful when walking to and from school or a bus stop. The police department is encouraging using a “buddy system” and never walking alone when going to school and other areas when parents are not also present.

[Featured Image by Syda Productions/Shutterstock]

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