EVERETT – A man told police he snatched a 5-year-old girl from her bedroom during a botched burglary because he was afraid, according to charging papers filed Thursday.
Brent W. Lee-Fendall, 20, slipped into the apartment through an open sliding glass door Monday morning. He told police he was hunting around for something valuable to steal.
Lee-Fendall was outside the girl’s room when she opened the door. He was afraid of getting caught inside the apartment, so he clamped his hand over the girl’s mouth, picked her up and ran out of the apartment, he told police.
He never intended to harm her, Lee-Fendall said.
He let her go “because he did not want to get charged with kidnapping,” according to court documents.
Lee-Fendall was charged with first-degree kidnapping Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court. Deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson asked that bail remain at $500,000 because of the nature of the offense.
Lee-Fendall lived in the same south Everett apartment complex as the girl and her family at the time of the incident. The girl’s parents say their daughter is traumatized, and they plan to move.
The girl has been commended for her bravery and quick thinking. Her screams alerted her parents, who first thought she was having a bad dream.
The real nightmare unfolded when the girl’s mother realized her daughter’s screams were coming from just outside her window, the family said. The woman jumped through the window and chased after the man carrying her daughter.
She yelled obscenities at the stranger, hoping he would let go of her daughter. The man eventually dropped the girl and ran off.
The girl got a bloody nose during the abduction.
Lee-Fendall was later arrested near the entrance to the apartment after he caught the eye of a deputy. His jeans were muddy and he had blood on his shirt.
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