Philly police fan out in area of school to track down girl’s abductors

Philadelphia police are now seeking two suspects in the abduction of a 5-year-old girl from her school in West Philadelphia school.

After going missing Monday, she was found early Tuesday morning on a playground.

Police are seeking an African-American woman in her 20s and a light-skinned or white man in his mid-30s in connection with the case.

Police have spread out near Bryant Elementary School where the kindergartner was taken. After speaking to the girl, Capt. John Darby says, officers determined that she wasn’t taken far from the school.

“This is a target area at this point, it may expand beyond that. We are going on the account of a 5-year-old basically indicating that she walked a couple blocks,” Darby said Wednesday. “So the four-block grid is a generous area around Bryant Elementary School and that is the area we are focusing on.”

Darby says more details of the incident are becoming clear, including that the girl was taken to a nearby home.

“She was in the property, she was blindfolded, she was told to remove her clothing, she was provided with a black T-shirt, that was an adult T-shirt she was found in,” Darby said. “She was made to hide under a bed, she was fed at one point while blindfolded.”

Darby would not say if the girl was sexually assaulted, primarily because her name has been made public.

“We normally do not talk about juveniles, certainly not 5-year-old victims. We do not identify them,” he said. “As a result,  at this time I cannot, I will not, say anything as it relates to physical condition, physical injuries or otherwise.”

Clad only in the T-shirt, the girl was found by a passer-by early Tuesday morning at a playground. After a medical evaluation, she was returned to her family.

Police are going door-to-door in the target area.

As for how an unauthorized person was able to take the girl from kindergarten? The Philadelphia School District released a statement saying only that it is pleased the investigation is moving forward and school officials hope the individuals are apprehended as soon as possible.