I’ve Been Stolen: Kidnapped 5-Year-Old Rescued By Good Samaritan

How can a 5-year-old girl explain something as scary and complex as a kidnapping? A little girl from Philadelphia was able to get a good Samaritan to rescue her after she told the passerby: “I’ve been stolen.”

According to UPI, the kindergartner was taken from the playground at Bryant Elementary School on Monday morning by a woman who claimed to be the child’s mother.

Capt. John Darby of the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit said that the woman, who called herself Tiffany, knew exactly how to trick school officials.

Darby said:

“”She indicated that she was the child’s mother. And that she was going to take the child to breakfast. This was not a random act, in fact this child was targeted. The woman who came into that school kind of knew exactly what to do, where to go, who to see.”

An Amber Alert was issued Monday and on Tuesday afternoon the girl was rescued when a 27-year-old sanitation worker heard the girl calling out that she’d been stolen. The girl was found under a piece of playground equipment at Darby Park wearing nothing but a wet t-shirt.

The Clarion Ledger reports that the girl was taken to the hospital. Police do not believe that she was hurt but they are currently trying to determine if she was sexually assaulted during the incident.

Darby said during a news conference:

“There were no overt signs of physical injuries to the child … We have a fragile victim here.”

Police, who are still looking for the kidnapper, have offered a $15,000 reward for any information that leads to the woman’s arrest.