7-year-old girl kidnapped in Philadelphia

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 23, 2002 | Associated Press

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

PHILADELPHIA -- A 7-year-old girl was abducted, kicking and screaming, from a street corner by two men who shoved her into a car and drove away as neighbors were at a block party down the street, police and witnesses said today.

The kidnappers later threatened to kill the girl unless a $150,000 ransom was paid, authorities said.

Witnesses told police Erica Pratt was playing with a friend when she was grabbed from a corner in southwest Philadelphia about 9:30 p.m. Monday. A 5-year-old girl told police a man dragged the screaming victim into a vehicle as she resisted, and then drove away, authorities said.

Witnesses told police Erica was taken away by two heavyset men in a white car with dark windows.

Residents of the rowhouse neighborhood said many of the adults were down the street at a block party at the time.

The child's grandmother, Barbara Pratt, got a phone call about 20 minutes after the abduction demanding $150,000 for the girl's return, police Inspector William Colarulo said.

Pratt received at least five more calls in the hours after the girl's disappearance and the kidnappers threatened to kill her if they didn't get the money, Colarulo said.

Erica had lived with Pratt for about three years.

Erica's mother, Serena Gillis, pleaded for her safe return.

"All I want them to do is treat her with care. Do not harm her," Gillis said. "She's only 7. She's just beginning her life."

Colarulo said he believes the motive for the girl's kidnapping was greed.

Although police had no immediate suspects, "I'm confident that Erica is going to be returned safely," Colarulo said.

A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Erica's return.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

When I saw this mentioned on the morning shows today I was surprised that there wasn't more coverage as there was with the other recent kidnappings. One thing I find very odd is that there is a ransom demand and also the fact that the cops released the fact of such a demand. Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.

The kid was living with the boyfriend's grandmother?And ditto - WHAT was she doing on a street corner at 9:40 p.m.? This does NOT absolve whoever snatched her, because they are the guilty ones. But the fact remains that if she'd been home in bed where she belonged, she'd most likely be out playing today.

Just my first thoughts.

I DO hope she is safe however.

[DCBryan1]

I saw the Mother this morning on Fox News. She did not convince me that she had nothing to do with the kidnapping. She reminded me of Susan Smith, which, when I saw her "greiving" I knew something was wrong and fishy.

Let me be the first to say it!

[wimpycat]

Just so you'll know, there are (or were) two other threads about this already posted.

There's something fishy about this whole thing. There's either loan sharking or drugs involved somewhere. I hope they don't harm or kill the little girl.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[mhking]

I keep hearing people fuss, insisting the only kidnap cases we hear of being "rich, white kids" in the 'burbs. Well, here' a black child in the inner city of Philadelphia, and where are the race warlords now? I don't see hide nor hair of them anywhere.

I pray to God now, that this child is safe and that her abductors are caught and justice dealt swiftly to them.

[What Is Ain't]

Very peculiar.

Did the kidnappers know the child? Did they know the guardians have that kind of money? Can't we trace the phone calls? Is this Al Queda trying to raise a little cash?

[MotherSpector]

Will somebody tell me what a "ping" is?

[mhking]

Ping lists (for lack of a better explanation) are notification lists that are tied to general and specific topic areas. When a news story or interesting posting thread comes about that may be of interest to that particular group, the person maintaining the list will send a note to each member of that group. The term 'ping' could be from the old sonar reference (the 'ping' sound of the sonar/radar on a naval vessel) or from the internet term of a ping, which is sending a single packet of data to bounce off of another machine to determine how well the integrity of your connection of the web is holding up.

In either event, there are ping lists for many, many topics; most of which are noted in their titles. As an example, I maintain the black conservative (or conservative black) list, which deals with items of interest to the conservative black community on FR. There are lists tied to geographic regions of the world, political issues, specific causes, specific individuals, and others as well.

We're friendly, and don't bite (at least most of us don't - I can't speak for some, right Laz?), so we're more than happy to answer any questions you've got 'bout the lists...

[Poohbah]

Will somebody tell me what a "ping" is?

It's a way of notifying people of like-minded interest.

It's also the karmic inverse of a "pong." :o)

[dinasour]

Welcomc to the FreeRepublic. There is lots of information here:

Welcome Center and Information Desk.

 

[dinasour]

That was a bad link. Try this

Welcome Center and Information Desk.

 

[Kaslin]

WHAT was she doing on a street corner at 9:40 p.m?

At 9:40 p.m a child needs to be in the house or apartment. Preverable asleep in her bed

[unixfox]

Will somebody tell me what a "ping" is?

Golf clubs of course...

[Catspaw]

The family may have known the kidnappers, but it is more likely that the kidnappers knew the family.  Apparently, there was a false rumor that the family had received $150,000 from an insurance settlement.

Posted on Tue, Jul. 23, 2002
Police search for abducted girl; consider link to relative's murder By Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. Philadelphia Inquirer Photo released by Philadelphia Police Department Erica Pratt is seven years old. Philadelphia police today were investigating the reported abduction of a 7-year-old girl from a street in Southwest Philadelphia last night. Witnesses said the girl, identified by the police Special Victims Unit as Erica Pratt, was on the 6000 block of Kingsessing Avenue with a friend about 9:30 p.m. when she was grabbed by someone inside a white car with dark tinted windows. The car then sped off. Police believe the kidnapping may be linked to the murder of her uncle in March, possibly because the kidnappers believed there had been a large insurance payment to the Pratt family in the uncle's death. The girl was grabbed by two men in a white car with dark tinted windows. The family received a phone call from a person demanding $150,000 for the girl's released. Police investigators, working with FBI agents on the case, said false rumors had circulated in the neighborhood that the family received a $150,000 insurance payment in the March 23 murder of girl's uncle, Joseph Pratt, 25, who was killed in the barrage of bullets as he sat in a car parked on South 56th Street, near Woodland Avenue in West Philadelphia. Police said the kidnapper's car was described as an old Buick, possibly a Delta 88 or Century model. A neighborhood girl told police that the kidnapper's car headed west on Kingsessing, near the Mount Moriah Cemetery. Erica Pratt's neighborhood has been ravaged by violence, believed linked to drug trafficiking. The day before her uncle's murder, which still has not been solved, a body was found in the trunk of a burning Cadillac at the Mount Moriah Cemetery. The killings capped several months of escalating violence in the area, which had prompted Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson to create a Southwest Philadelphia Task Force to coordinate police response to crimes. Johnson had pledged that police would dramatically step up activity to curb the violence, which was traced to drug factions.

[arthurus]

hope they don't harm or kill the little girl

If this is fraudulent then the little girl is likelyy dead, especially if it is a Susan Smith situation.

[hellinahandcart]

The men are known to the family, it turns out.

They just showed photos of the two suspects on our local news. It can't be long before they find them. This is probably the most dangerous time for Erica, if the kidnappers are as stupid and vicious as I fear they are.

[whenigettime]

Have any of you heard of a Dannariah Finley (age 4) who was abducted from her Orange, Texas grandma's home on July 4? She was found dead on July 7 on the east Texas boarder.
Here's the addy to the story of her funeral:

http://www.orangeleader.com/display/inn_news/news001.txt

Haven't heard a thing on National news regarding this. It's very similar to the Samantha Runnion case (not that I think the perp is the same, just the same sad, sick tale)
P

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

{{{{{Ping}}}}}

[Steve Eisenberg]

I was surprised that there wasn't more coverage as there was with the other recent kidnappings

Locally, it a big story. But there is so much crime in the neighborhood where it happenned, that the occurrence of terrible things there doesn't seem so unusual. The press is already used to ignoring murders there, so maybe some of that rubs off with a kidnapping.

Where I live, in "Main Line" suburb Lower Merion Township, every serious crime is major regional news.

[linn37]

The mother was dressed as a hoochy woman,no tears,no stress and does not even live with her child.The gigs up! I think the mom and someone else is holding the child to get money from the grandma.