Memorial Park Kidnapping
Scary Memorial Park kidnapping attempt leaves police scrambling: Man tries to nab little girl with bizarre claim
A local mother escaped from a determined man who tried to kidnap her 3-year-old daughter at Memorial Park on Wednesday morning.
"I noticed someone came at me. He kept saying 'Nelly! Nell!' I'm like, 'Who is Nelly?' I thought he was looking for his dog or something," the mother tells KHOU Channel 11.
The mom immediately grabbed her young child and ran into a crowd to find help.
"He started saying 'That's my daughter, you have my daughter!' I'm like what? I don't know you. I don't know who you are," the mom says.
The mother wants to keep her and her daughter's identities hidden for their safety.
"He started saying 'That's my daughter, you have my daughter!' I'm like what? I don't know you. I don't know who you are."
According to the mom, people in the park were apparently aware of the situation and some tried to shield her from the man. Eventually she was able to get into her car, but she says that the man began trailing her in his vehicle. While speeding to a police station, she tried her best to get away from the trailing would-be kidnapper.
"I tried to lose him," the mom says. "He was running red lights."
The frantic mother was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher while driving.
"(The dispatcher) said, 'That's interesting, he's on the other line. He's telling us you have his daughter,' " the mother tells KHOU. "I was like 'Oh my gosh.' That was my worst nightmare. I have someone trying to take my kid."
The mom was eventually able to flag down a police officer. But when she did, she says she looked in her rear view mirror again and the man had disappeared.
Both the mother and daughter are extremely shaken by the experience, now left with the image of a strange man who tried to nab the girl by claiming she was his daughter.
"I don't want to go to park," the young girl tells her mom. "Mommy, you are not going to go to park."
The man is described as a white male in his early thirties, about 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, who was wearing a grey hoodie, black hat and blue jeans during the attempted kidnapping. His vehicle was described as a large red truck, possibly a Dodge Ram with a potential license plate of YC14342 or YC142.
"I don't want to go to the park," the mom tells KHOU . "We love the park usually, we always have fun at the park."
Watch the full KHOU report:
