In the sleepy town of Sprague, Washington, about 40 miles west of Spokane with a population of 500, the unthinkable happened when a teenage boy ran up to a trio of siblings playing in a park and grabbed the youngest, running with him as the toddler’s older siblings gave chase.
The child’s identity is being held because he is a juvenile, but the names of his courageous sister and brother have been released. Brendan Wright, ten, and Delicia Wright, eight, had taken their baby brother to the city park to play after being left with a babysitter while their father Michael Wright went to work. The children were reportedly playing there unsupervised , so it is not clear where the babysitter was at the time.
According to eyewitness and surveillance accounts, the boy had approached the children and was speaking to them for several minutes when he suddenly grabbed the toddler from the stroller he was in and ran with him. Surveillance cameras behind a grocery store showed the kidnapper running at fast pace with the toddler in hi arms, while Delicia and Brendan were chasing him on foot. It was the older children’s screams that alerted others that there was a problem, according to police.
Dorothy Giddings, an antique shop owner who was working at her store downtown, heard Delicia’s desperate screams for help after her brother was taken. In return, Mrs. Giddings realized that a child was being abducted, and sent her grandson Andrew Crane, 15, and his friend Isaac Yow, 16, to chase the kidnapper, as well as alerting the police. The police were quick to praise all parties involved. Lincoln County Sherriff Wade Magers said that the police worked tirelessly to identify the suspect.
“Over the past 72 hours, deputies and detectives have worked relentlessly on this case. Additional evidence, interviews, DNA collection and surveillance was conducted. A search warrant was executed at the suspect’s residence.”
The boy, who was first described as thought to be a man of about thirty, panicked as the teenage boys closed in on him, dropped the toddler into a field, and escaped. The toddler was not physically injured in the incident, and there was no evidence that the kidnapper had driven off in a car. Surveillance cameras behind the grocery store were eventually what identified the suspect. He is being held at a juvenile detention center and his name has not been released due to his age.
Although the youth has not been formally charged, Lincoln county is looking at several possibilities including a second degree kidnapping charge, the Sheriff said.
[Photo by LibertyNEWS.com]
