Media Release from Edgewater Police Chief John Hough:
On June 11, 2014, at about 7:30 PM, a 16-year-old female victim left the area of 35th Avenue and Marshall Street in Wheat Ridge and began walking home to her residence in the area of 17th Avenue and Eaton Street in Lakewood. As the female victim approached the area of 35th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard to board a bus to ride to her residence, she was approached by a male suspect in a vehicle who asked her for directions to Sloan’s Lake.
The male suspect in the vehicle asked the female victim where she was going. When the female victim responded that she was going to her residence, the male suspect offered her a ride in his vehicle. The female victim accepted the ride and got into the passenger side of the vehicle.
As the male suspect and the female victim approached the area of the female victim’s residence, the male suspect drove his vehicle into an alley in the area of 22nd Avenue and Benton Street in Edgewater. The male suspect produced a knife, bound the female victim’s hands with rope and began to drive away from the area.
The female victim estimated that she and the male suspect drove for at least one hour. As the male suspect was driving his vehicle on a road that was later identified as Interstate 225 in the Aurora area, the female victim managed to open the passenger door of the vehicle and stick her lower legs out of the vehicle in an unsuccessful attempt to gain the attention of another driver on the highway.
The female victim was able to free one of her hands from the ropes that bound her wrists and locate the male suspect’s knife on the floorboards of the vehicle. The female victim started stabbing the knife at the male suspect as he was driving. The female victim believed that she stabbed the male suspect in the left shoulder and rib cage area.
When the male suspect stopped his vehicle, the female victim ran from the vehicle and through an exit in the sound barrier walls on Interstate 225 to a nearby residence in the area of Interstate 225 and Sand Creek Road. The Aurora Police Department responded at about 10:00 PM to the residence on the report of a kidnapping.
The female victim sustained lacerations to the fingers on her right hand that occurred as she stabbed the male suspect. She was transported to a local hospital and has already been released.
The male suspect is described as a Black male, 30-40 years of age with clean cut facial hair that included grey chin hair. The suspect has either short, clean cut hair or is bald. The suspect was wearing a brown or green and white striped short sleeve shirt and dark pants.
The suspect vehicle is described as a dark blue or black late model diesel pick- up truck, unknown manufacturer, with a chrome stripe on the bottom of the sides of the vehicle and amber running lights on the top of the pick-up cab.
Anyone with information regarding this crime, the suspect or his vehicle should contact Detective Joseph Montoya at the Edgewater Police Department at 303/763-3025, the Edgewater Police Department main telephone number at 303/235-0500 or the Jefferson County Dispatch center at 303/271-0211.
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
What a brave girl. Bravo to you!
What a brave girl! What courage!