Police Search for Men in Connection With Northridge Girl Abduction

Police are searching for two men who are allegedly involved with the abduction of a 10-year-old Northridge girl who was reported missing when her mother noticed her bed empty about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The girl was found nearly 12 hours later about six miles from her home when a woman who had seen reports of the girl's disappearance recognized her at a Woodland Hills Starbucks.

Police were working from sketchy information provided by the girl. She did not know either of the two suspects, one of whom was described as being an 18-year-old man. She told police she was held in an abandoned home near her house and later a storage facility. She was then left off at a Kaiser hospital.

Capt. William Hayes of the Los Angeles Police Department told a news
conference this evening that "you have a 10-year-old girl ... who was taken
from her home and held by individuals for several hours. If these individuals
are brazen enough to do that, I'm putting all the resources I have to make sure
they don't do it again."

Hayes said he did not know why the girl was targeted.

He also said that "we have two vehicles, and we already have one in custody."

Hayes said there was no indication the suspects had weapons.

Someone recognized the girl around 3 p.m. at Canoga Avenue and Oxnard Street and directed her to some nearby police officers. Los Angeles Police  Department Capt. Kris Pitcher said the girl had been dropped off at the location by an unknown suspect.

"We don't know who she was dropped off by, that's under investigation now,'' Pitcher said. `"...We are reviewing tapes, we are talking to individuals. We are turning over every stone we can to catch up with this individual, so we don't know who dropped her off.''

Pitcher said the girl was walking on her own and talking to investigators, but she suffered "facial bruising and lacerations.''

The girl was taken to a West Hills hospital to be examined.

According to police, the girl's mother awoke to some noise about 3:30 a.m. and checked on her daughter, who was nowhere to be found at their house in the 8000 block of Oakdale Avenue in Northridge.

Media reports from the scene indicated that the girl's dog, which normally is not allowed in the room, was in the bedroom when the girl's mother checked on her.

Police swarmed a roughly two-square-mile area in search of the girl.

"She's basically in shock right now,'' Pitcher said. "Like I said, she's walking, she's talking. She's conversing with the officers and the FBI agents and with the doctors and nurses at the hospital.''

Cmdr. Sharon Papa said detectives and juvenile officers from across the San Fernando Valley took part in the search for the girl. The FBI also took part in the search.