Police: Is Tumwater luring linked to McCleary case?
Officials say three men tried to kidnap the 14-year-old girl in broad daylight on Wednesday as she was walking along a busy street, but the girl was able to escape by running away.
 Lindsey Baum |
"We investigate because child lurings aren't as common as most crimes, and when you have two communities that are so close together and the circumstances where obviously it occurred in public areas. And the girls are approximately the same age," says Detective Jen Kolb of the Tumwater Police Department.
The Tumwater girl, whose name is being withheld, says she was walking along Capitol Boulevard to her mother's place of work when the three men jumped out of a black pickup.
They were yelling, "Hey, pretty lady, how are you?" then came after her, she says.
The girl started running, and the men chased after her. But soon after they gave up the chase, ran back to the pickup and drove off.
The experience left the girl scared, alone and distraught. So she ran to her mother's place of work and breathlessly told her what had happened.
"She was very scared, shaken - didn't know what to think or what to do," says her mother.
The girl now says she believes the men wanted to hurt her.
"In a way, yeah. ... Just the way they were talking to me and trying to come to me," she says.
Kolb said she finds the case "very disturbing" and is struck by the parallels to the disappearance of Lindsey Baum.
Investigators want anyone with information to call the Tumwater Police Department at (360) 754-4200.