Two Teenagers Kidnapped In Lancaster, CA

FNC

[Alissa]

Duct tape could have been purchased enroute from Vegas to LA.

[Howlin]

Perhaps he was just looking for a car that wasn't so "hot?" It will be interesting to see.

I'll bow to you as the "crime expert" on this thread......LOL.

I'm off to a funeral in Virigina Beach; keep me posted. I'm going into a "No News Zone" so look for something BIG to happen!

[AKA Elena]

Like it or not some kids still go to "make out points" -- the guy had a semi-automatic on them ... taped the young man's head to his headrest to start (I hardly think wrapping duct tape is a major inconvenience to wrapping securely, while holding a gun.)

QH Water towers are located about 3 miles from my house and frankly, I never knew that it was used for this kind of tryst (then I am naive). All it would have taken was having the cars at a little distance from one another to achieve this.

It is across the street from my grandson's school and all of the sports teams use this run from school up the hill in training.

The man could have gone any direction without fear of arousing suspicion -- many well maintained roads, from freeway to highway go any direction the perp wanted to go. He could easily have gone back toward Vegas, or any direction he chose. We don't roll up the streets here exactly, but not far from that.

For him to think to go to that spot, makes me think that he has to be familiar with the area, as the access is not on any beaten track. The area is less than two city blocks from rural homes on 1 - 2 acre lots. That is the only entrance or egress from that hill, in fact.

[Types_with_Fist]

Several things:

Guy on the run after carjacking just happens to show up at Lover's Lane

He also has duct tape and gasoline and semi-automatic pistol

He's able to subdue two guys, kidnap their girlfriends, tie up everyone with duct tape, pour gas on the car, keep an eye on the guys and girls seperately...

Something's not right here.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

the further "wussification" of America's youth.

[spectre]

I think they were gutless to have not put up a fight to protect the girls, especially whe the one guy said "I don't think there was bullets in the gun"...duh.

And what is ALL that Duct tape still doing attached to them? Where are the forensic's team?

Maybe they know something we don't.

I sure hope these boys didn't do anything to the girls, but it has to be considered.

sw

[Pharmboy]

Guy on the run after carjacking just happens to show up at Lover's Lane

If he wants a teenage girl that's where he'd go late at night. I would guess that the perp knows the area.

[AKA Elena]

Very respectfully, in spite of the rules we had to follow (and mine were strict, as well) it has nothing to do with the fact that two young girls were taken at gun point and are now missing with some jerk! Prayer might be (IS) in order that they are alive and well when found!

Whether we argue that the time and the location and the activity is or is not --in line -- with the ideal, makes no difference and our concerns should not be diverted in "how" it happened and culpability, but in how to find a needle in a haystack ... and find it with expedition!

[sonserae]

From CNN

Teen girls abducted from L.A.

August 1, 2002 Posted: 10:09 AM EDT (1409 GMT)

LANCASTER, California (CNN) -- Police issued a statewide alert early Thursday for a man in a white Ford Bronco who apparently kidnapped a pair of teenage girls at gunpoint from a popular "make-out" spot in Los Angeles County, California.

The suspect, described by police as Hispanic, 30 to 40 years old with a medium build, left the scene with Tamera Brooks, 16, and Jaqueline Marris, 17, who had been in separate vehicles with their boyfriends at a Quartz Hill parking area shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday, police said.

The suspect arrived at the Quartz Hill water tower -- popular with teenagers because of its seclusion and sweeping views of the valley below -- in a stolen Saturn, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Tom Pigott said.

That car was reported stolen in a car-jacking in Las Vegas, but Pigott said he did not have details of the car-jacking, he said.

The kidnapper drove away in a white, 1980 Ford Bronco with a gray shell, oversized tires and a raised suspension designed for off-road use that belonged to the boyfriend of the one of the girls.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Darren Harris said the suspect approached Brooks and her companion, forcing them at gunpoint from the vehicle.

The suspect then approached Marris and her companion, also forcing them from their car at gunpoint. The boyfriends were tied up with duct tape, and the suspect sped away in the Bronco.

Pigott said one of the boys worked himself free and "ran down the hill to a pay phone."

[dawn53]

Okay, here's the story about an abduction in Tampa last week that was very similar.

By AMY HERDY and TIM GRANT © St. Petersburg Times published July 26, 2002

TAMPA -- After a long talk about the breakup of their one-year romance, 19-year-old Zach Kirby and 17-year-old Brandi Balbontin hugged each other goodbye Wednesday night in a Carrollwood Village park.

Then a man with a gun emerged from the shadows.

"He came from behind two bushes," Kirby said, and pointed a chrome handgun at them.

"What do we have? A midnight rendezvous?" Kirby recalled the man asking.

"He grabbed the back of my shirt and ripped it, then pushed me to my car and told me to leave," Kirby said.

As Kirby headed toward his 1989 Acura Integra, Balbontin, wearing jeans and a black shirt and her hair in a ponytail, stepped inside her turquoise 1995 Toyota Corolla and hit the locks.

"He tapped on the window with the gun and told her to unlock the doors," Kirby said. Then the man got into the back seat and ordered Balbontin to drive.

So began the bizarre kidnapping of Balbontin, the daughter of a veteran Hillsborough sheriff's deputy and a recent honors graduate at Gaither High School.

Investigators said her kidnapper, who apparently planned his crime, had stalked the teens for up to two hours as they chatted in a gazebo in the Millennium Garden Park and then, vanquished by mosquitoes, inside Balbontin's car.

In an effort made personal as they worried for one of their own, at least 80 deputies mounted an intense manhunt in the Carrollwood Village area, a quiet suburban community of landscaped homes.

The search, which included a bloodhound and a helicopter with a heat-seeking device, began shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. It ended seven hours later when the kidnapper, 22-year-old Steven Allen Williams, put a pistol to his head and fatally shot himself in the back seat of Balbontin's car. The car was parked about a quarter-mile from where he took the teen.

Balbontin, who was in the front seat, was unharmed. She was later reunited with her father, Luis Balbontin. She spent Thursday with Kirby and her family.

"This is one of the most bizarre cases I've seen in my 25 years," said Lt. Rod Reder, a sheriff's spokesman. "You don't have that many stranger abductions. And to see it come to a close like it did is more bizarre."

The circumstances of Balbontin's rescue were as unusual as her kidnapping.

At first, Reder said, sheriff's investigators sharply questioned Kirby, unsure they had a real case.

"I was bombarded by a zillion questions," said Kirby, a Hillsborough Community College sophomore. "They asked me the same questions over and over. What happened? Was I drinking? Do I do drugs? Where had I been? What had I been doing?"

Then the sheriff's bloodhound, Ruby, found what later was identified as Williams' car, parked behind Rainbow Dry Cleaners on the corner of S Village Drive and W Village Drive.

She tracked a scent from the still warm car, a 1991 Isuzu, to a zig-zag pattern in the woods near where the young couple had been talking. That moment, Reder said, convinced investigators that the case was sinister.

As the hours wore on, Reder called the media to make a public plea for help.

Shortly after 6 a.m., county trail ranger Karl Siegfried was on his way to work when he saw Balbontin's car while listening to Reder describe it on the radio.

Siegfried, 44, said he saw a girl driving the Toyota and a man in the back seat. The car was turning from Gunn Highway to head east on Ehrlich Road.

"It was just like (the disc jockey) was talking to me or like God had tapped me on the shoulder and said "Look to your right,' " he said.

Siegfried followed the car while calling in its location to co-worker Jesse Cook, who called 911 and helped direct deputies to the Toyota. Deputy Mark Turner, 27, was heading home at the end of a 14-hour shift when he heard the call.

Turner, who trained under Balbontin's father six years ago as a rookie, spotted the Toyota on Middle Park Drive. As the car, driven slowly by Balbontin, pulled into a nearby driveway, Turner confronted Williams, who was behind her in the back seat.

"Show me your hands! Hands! Hands!" Turner said he yelled.

"He looked at me, then looked forward, put the gun right to his head and pulled the trigger," he said. "No hesitation."

At the sight of the gun, Turner said, he began backing up to the cover of his patrol car, but could not take a shot because Williams sat near the girl. After Williams fired the fatal shot, Balbontin crawled from the Toyota to his patrol car, Turner said, where she climbed into his lap and clung to him, both arms around his neck.

"I kept telling her, "You're okay, you're okay,' " he said. "I put my car in reverse, hit the gas and got her out of there. Then the cavalry got here."

Reder said Williams apparently had planned his crime, purchasing latex gloves and putting a stolen license tag on the Isuzu, which belonged to his grandfather who lives in Georgia.

His motive remains unknown.

Records show Tampa police charged Williams with aggravated assault with a firearm in 1995, when he was 15. The disposition of that case was not available Thursday.

No one answered the door at his father's one-story frame home in Lutz, near Mort Elementary School.

Robert Grader, 29, who lives across the street from Williams' father, said the son was a quiet, friendly young man. He said he was shocked by the kidnapping.

"I would have never thought he'd do something like that," Grader said.

For now, Reder said, no one is pressing Balbontin for details of her ordeal with Williams. The teen turns 18 on Sunday.

Her father, he said, sent a message of thanks to all involved. Ackerman Jewelers, where Deputy Balbontin works off-duty, awarded two free round-trip airline tickets to rangers Cook and Siegfried.

As for Kirby, priorities have changed. Despite the breakup, he said, he plans to spend more time with Balbontin.

"I was worried for her life," he said.

[blackbart1]

Someone please tell me how a guy holding a gun manages to take one girl and (still holding the gun) tie up her boyfriend...

That crossed my mind too. I can't understand why those boys couldn't have made at least an attempt to take control of the situation. But then not being there it is hard to say.

I live near Lancaster and this is very freightening. We moved out of there over 20 years ago when our kids were small. Wanted the small town atmosphere. Good move for us. But no place is perfect these days.

[Bella]

http://library.northernlight.com/EB20020801770000032.html?cb=0&dx=2006&sc=0#doc

2 Teen Girls Kidnapped in S. Calif.

Story Filed: Thursday, August 01, 2002 10:22 AM EDT

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) -- A man kidnapped two teenage girls at gunpoint early Thursday from a lovers' lane in a remote area, authorities said.

Tamera Brooks, 16, and Jaqueline Marris, 17, were sitting in separate cars with male friends when the gunman approached them shortly after 1 a.m., authorities said.

``It's a life-and-death situation,'' Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Tom Pigott said. ``We're just trying to locate these young girls.''

The gunman tied up one of the males to a post with duct tape and blindfolded him before leaving with the girls in a brown and white Ford Bronco that belonged to one of the males, authorities said.

The girls apparently did not know each other or their abductor, authorities said. Neither man was injured.

``He told me he was going to kill me but he didn't want to,'' the 18-year-old man who had been tied up told KNBC-TV of Los Angeles. ``He just kept telling her to stay down, keep her head down, don't look at him.''

Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Efflandt said the man poured gasoline over one of the vehicles, apparently trying to torch it, but was unsuccessful.

Sheriff's investigators said the man, in his mid-30s to early 40s, left behind a vehicle that was reported stolen in a Nevada carjacking Nevada. No other details were immediately available.

A command post was set up and sheriff's deputies notified the FBI and the U.S. Border Patrol about the missing girls.

Lancaster is about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

[the-gooroo]

The kid with the duct tape also said he didn't even know the "kidnapper" was approaching, he was surprised from behind. Two seconds later he says "it sounded like he had a flat tire though." hmmmm

[spectre]

Sorry about the funeral, Howlin. But Virginia Beach? Try and dip those toes in that ocean after-ward..:~)

I DON'T need another case right now! But this one needs a good look.

Meanwhile, I've got to search the trunks of our cars to see if we carry Duct-tape (not in my emergency kit), I'll ping you if there are big changes.

sw

[NC_Libertarian]

I was thinking the same thing. Nobody resisted?

I hope I would never allow someone to abduct a loved one, at least while I'm alive.

[Puppage]

Oh, okay Mr. Webster....by this rational, I guess on 9/11 the jets that crashed into the WTC were planejacked? Yeah, now that I think of it that term was all over the news.

[Steve0113]

one of the boys worked himself free and "ran down the hill to a pay phone."

Not one of these teenagers had a cell phone? Possible but not likely.

[TheOtherOne]

Two Teenage Girls Kidnapped at Gunpoint in Southern California; 'life and Death' Search Under Way
The Associated Press
Published: Aug 1, 2002

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) - A man kidnapped two teenage girls at gunpoint early Thursday from a lovers' lane in a remote area, authorities said.

Tamera Brooks, 16, and Jaqueline Marris, 17, were sitting in separate cars with male friends when the gunman approached them shortly after 1 a.m., authorities said.

"It's a life-and-death situation," Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Tom Pigott said. "We're just trying to locate these young girls."

The gunman tied up one of the males to a post with duct tape and blindfolded him before leaving with the girls in a brown and white Ford Bronco that belonged to one of the males, authorities said.

The girls apparently did not know each other or their abductor, authorities said. Neither man was injured.

"He told me he was going to kill me but he didn't want to," the 18-year-old man who had been tied up told KNBC-TV of Los Angeles. "He just kept telling her to stay down, keep her head down, don't look at him."

Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Efflandt said the man poured gasoline over one of the vehicles, apparently trying to torch it, but was unsuccessful.

Sheriff's investigators said the man, in his mid-30s to early 40s, left behind a vehicle that was reported stolen in a Nevada carjacking Nevada. No other details were immediately available.

A command post was set up and sheriff's deputies notified the FBI and the U.S. Border Patrol about the missing girls.

Lancaster is about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

AP-ES-08-01-02 1018EDT

[NC_Libertarian]

I don't know that anything's fishy, it just sounds like they were great victims.

[sonserae]

I'm not surprised the guys didn't resist. I live in L.A. and the guys here, especially the young ones are a bunch of wimps raised in single family homes by their mommies. They don't know what it's like to be a man or act like one.