Abductor may have fled in lake
Published 10:55 pm Wednesday, August 1, 2007
LYNNWOOD – A trip to Alderwood mall turned terrifying Wednesday for a Mill Creek woman and police are investigating an afternoon armed kidnapping.
The woman, 35, wasn’t physically harmed.
After hours of searching near Lake Stickney north of Lynnwood, police continued Wednesday evening to look for a suspect who may have jumped into the lake and swam away.
On police radios, officials described the man as possibly wearing a wetsuit. They looked for him using dogs, a helicopter and even a paddle boat borrowed from a lakeside neighbor.
The woman said the ordeal started when she was returning to her car. An armed man forced her to get in to her own vehicle, said Shannon Sessions, a Lynnwood police spokeswoman.
The man forced her to drive north to Lake Stickney, a quiet residential area in unincorporated Snohomish County, Sessions said.
She parked in a public landing on the north end of the lake and the man restrained her, police said. Detectives wouldn’t say how.
Then the man left the car and ran away, the woman told police.
A Snohomish County parks employee spotted the woman in the car and called 911 just after 4 p.m., Sessions said.
The woman apparently wasn’t injured but was taken to an area hospital for evaluation.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies along with Lynnwood police scoured the area for hours looking for the man.
“We did an extensive search of the area and didn’t find him,” Sessions said. “Neighbors in that area should call 911 if they see or hear anything suspicious.”
Police were not releasing any suspect information Wednesday night. It was not immediately clear if the suspect was known to the woman.
Lynnwood police are working with Alderwood mall security to determine if surveillance video of the abduction is available, Sessions said.
After hearing the sheriff’s helicopter whirling in her neighborhood all afternoon, Cheryl Bauer said she was discomforted.
“I’m going to go home and lock my door twice,” she said.
