Abduction Stuns Midvale
Joyce Dahl is known for keeping a watchful eye over her neighborhood. Midvale police often hear from her when something seems wrong. Early Monday, that vigilance may have saved the life of her 11-year-old neighbor.
After Dahl called police at 1:42 a.m. to report hearing strange nighttime noises behind her home, officers captured Javier Sickler, 28, who they say abducted the girl from her home and raped and beat her in her own back yard. Police say Sickler is also the main suspect in the Aug. 3 rape of a woman in a field outside a bar. During interrogation, Sickler told police he had consensual sex with the woman, who claims she was raped.
"We thank [Dahl] for getting involved and calling when she heard something," said Midvale Police Sgt. John Salazar. "It saved the little girl's life."
The child was in critical condition at Primary Children's Medical Center late Monday, recovering from a 9-hour surgery for severe injuries to her face and head. Doctors said every bone in the midportion of the girl's face was fractured.
Sickler, a high school acquaintance of the girl's father, told police he entered the home in the 100 block of East Fourbush Avenue through an unlocked side door while the family slept. He told police he suffers from periodic "blackouts" and does not remember what happened after he entered the home. The father and Sickler recently had rekindled their relationship and had spoken last week.
Dahl's phone call prompted two Midvale police officers to examine her back yard and neighboring yards on foot early Monday. When the officers heard moaning and the sounds of someone being struck in the yard directly behind Dahl's, they scaled a 6-foot fence and focused a bright light on the suspect, who then ran away. One of the officers gave chase on foot, while the other discovered the injured girl and stayed with her, Salazar said.
Police blocked off neighborhood streets and called in a K-9 unit. As Midvale police officer Jared Richardson was responding to the scene with his German shepherd, Vader, he spotted Sickler and told him to halt. When he did not, Vader took him down after three attempts with help from Richardson.
Neighbors in Midvale, many of them with young children, gathered in their yards Monday morning to discuss the crime. The Midvale girl's next-door neighbor, Tammy McCleary, 33, said the abduction only added to concerns she now has about protecting her three children.
"It scares me to death that I could sleep through something so horrible," she said.
Sickler is being held on suspicion of attempted homicide, aggravated rape of a child and aggravated burglary.
He first had gone into the bedroom of the girl's 10-year-old brother, asking the boy where his father slept. Frightened, the boy pretended not to hear Sickler's question, and went into his sister's room to sleep after the suspect left the home, Salazar said.
He returned just over a half hour later, taking the girl from her room as her brother slept. The girl's father was asleep downstairs in the home. The girl, her brother and paternal grandparents slept on the main floor, Salazar said.
Police from Sandy and Layton helped Midvale officers comb the white, single-story home and surrounding area Monday in search of the hammer or blunt weapon used to assault the girl. The girl's father, a painter, ran a small mechanic business out of a building behind the home. The back yard where the assault occurred was overgrown.
"We're not going to let anything slip by us," Salazar said. "She was assaulted to the point we think he was trying to kill her. Right now we don't know a motive -- I think it's a crime of opportunity on his end."
Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said the case caught the attention of investigators still trying to locate Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped in the middle of the night from her Federal Heights home June 5. A flyer with Elizabeth Smart's picture on it was posted to a telephone pole directly outside the Midvale girl's home.
"There are obvious similarities to the Smart kidnapping," Dinse said. "We certainly are interested in talking to this guy and seeing if there is a connection."
Salazar said Midvale investigators could find no connection to the Smart case, but have invited the FBI and Salt Lake City police to interview the suspect. Sickler's only previous criminal conviction was for attempted retail theft and a string of traffic convictions. Although he was arrested on suspicion of rape in 1994, prosecutors declined to prosecute him and no charge was filed.
Upon hearing of the Midvale abduction Monday morning, Elizabeth Smart's father, Ed, called Dahl a hero.
"Our hearts go out to this family," he said. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate the neighbor being alert. I would ask everyone to continue to be aware of those unusual things . . . because that's critical."
In Midvale, McCleary said the Smart kidnapping had already prompted her to closely watch her children. "You think you have things figured out after Elizabeth Smart . . . but with something as horrible as this, what do you say and don't you say to your kids?" she asked.
Although her family has an alarm system, McCleary said she just doesn't feel "completely safe."
Another neighbor, Maureen Pinegar, 43, and her 15-year-old son were sleeping in their back yard just two houses away from the girl's home when they awoke to the sounds of the chase for the suspect.
Pinegar, who is involved in the neighborhood watch in the area, said it is often difficult to hear through the deep back yards on the street.
"We thought we had heard someone talking and some noises, but we just dismissed it," Pinegar said.
Neighbor Jeff Ferguson, 54, who lives down the street and grew up in Midvale, said the crime was unnerving for the whole neighborhood. "This pretty well shakes you," he said.