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Suspect Held After Calif. Girl Found Safe

Posted on: Monday, 9 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Police arrested a suspect Monday in the kidnapping of 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo just hours after the girl walked into a convenience store, shaken but safe.

Police took the man into custody at a friend's home. He tried to fight off officers and was taken to the hospital after a police dog bit him.

The home was less than a mile from where an intruder brazenly kidnapped Jennette on Friday after savagely beating her mother and brother.

Police said they believe the man knew of the fourth-grade girl through one of her former schoolmates - though neither Jennette nor her family recognized him.

The man looked like a police sketch of the suspect and had injuries consistent with what police expected from the struggle he had with Jennette's mother, Police Chief William Lansdowne said.

"We're very confident this is the right person," Lansdowne said.

The arrest came just eight hours after the girl turned up safe. Police said she was probably dropped off at the convenience store by her captor, who may have been frightened by the attention the case received.

Investigators were still trying to determine what happened to the girl during the two days she was missing, but said she seemed healthy with no major injuries.

The girl's mother, her face still puffy from Friday's attack, thanked authorities, the news media and her neighbors as she choked back tears.

"I want to tell all mothers not to let your kids walk alone on the street, no matter how secure it is," Roselia Tamayo said in Spanish. "Because when you feel you lose a child, I think it is like the feeling of dying."

Jennette's ordeal ended late Sunday night, when she walked into the Eastside Market in East Palo Alto, said Isa Yasin, the owner of the shop. "She was crying and scared," Yasin said.

Reunited with her mother and other relatives, Jennette was in good spirits, and because she remained alert during the ordeal, provided investigators with information leading to the arrest, Lansdowne said.

Investigators were trying to determine if she had been sexually assaulted. They believe she remained in the San Francisco Bay area during her abduction.

Deputy Chief Rob Davis said police believe the abduction was not a random crime: Not only did the attacker wait for Jennette to return home alone from school, but he twice told Jennette's mother, "You know what I want" as he beat her in her home before screeching off with Jennette in the back seat of his car.

Much of the ordeal was caught by a neighbor's video surveillance camera. The tape shows the girl coming home from school and a man following her into the house. It shows Jennette's mother, aunt and 15-year-old brother driving up and records the sounds of the boy being attacked when he tries to enter the garage.

The abduction shook residents of Jennette's quiet middle-class neighborhood. But residents also said the area will bounce back, given Jennette's safe return.

Reed McInroy, who lives a few houses down the street from the Tamayo family, said a block party is scheduled for early next month.

"I guarantee you it's going to be the biggest block party you ever saw," McInroy said.

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