This is an email from my ex wife that she sent to our friends and family today. The scenario is a little long and well I just cannot retype all of it without breaking down. This hits too close too home, Jackson is safe spending some time with his grandma this weekend and is in great spirits. He is aware of what almost happened and is a hero in my eyes. The amount of information that he gave the Redmond Police Depat. was amazing.
In short talk too your kids about strangers and what to do, when they are approached.
Hello all,
I am sending this email out to everyone I know.
Yesterday, Jackson was in the front yard playing (in the grass, on our property). A blue minivan pulled up, and a guy was staring at Jackson (he says for about two minutes). The guy was about to “do something” possibly motion him over, or roll down the window, and Jackson sprinted for the front door, and was able to look back and see the letter “L” in his license plate.
When he came in, he was extremely scared. He told me about the guy and he looked very similar to his dad (dark hair, goatee, heavier set, plaid shirt), and that he had a minivan that was blue like the sky (dodge makes this color), but the minivan was rounded like ours, so not super old and boxy. I told him that maybe he was lost, or using his phone, and Jackson said that he had that “feeling” in his stomach and was scared. I told him to stay inside. He was the only kid out. It happened around 3:45-4pm. I had that same feeling that he had too, but I thought maybe he was just extra paranoid, so I let it go.
This morning, Bryan called me around 8am as we were getting ready to have Jackson walk to school. He told me that he had dropped Ashtonn off at daycare (which is affiliated with their school) and the teacher had said that a parent said this morning that a guy is going around in a teal/blue minivan luring kids with a puppy. I didn’t tell Bryan about the incident with Jackson the day before as we don’t speak every day, and again, I just assumed maybe someone was lost. We headed to the school to confirm the story from the preschool teacher, then proceeded to call the police.
The school was able to give us a flyer about recent attempted abductions. The flyer mentions that the man was “Hispanic or medium skinned, male, 50 yoa, 5’8-5’10, Dark hair, heavy set, and may have a goatee. He is driving a late model dry/green/teal dodge caravan with MAYBE a similar plate of 978RWI.” We did not know any of this information until this morning which matched with Jackson’s description yesterday (almost identical). The flyer was handed to us as the police were arriving to the school this morning.
The guy never had to a chance to speak to Jackson or even roll down the window, but he pulled into our cul-de-sac, and stopped the car right in front of our driveway and stared at Jackson for some time with Jackson in the yard. Jackson thought it was his dad at first with a new car, but then when he looked closer, he said he knew it wasn’t.
The flyer says that this man has attempted abductions around our area including a church, school zones, and even from a yard (like Jackson), but with a puppy. Jackson told the police that he did not see anyone or anything in the back of the van because the windows were too dark. There was also an attempt in Redmond Ridge (10 minutes from us) with a 9 year old girl, but with a different color of minivan.
The police officer said that this was extremely suspicious and did do a report as well as scanned the neighborhood.
A few weeks ago, I was explaining to Jackson about his gut feeling, and how I scan everything and everyone when I am driving or anywhere. The fear of God worked this time.
Please pass this on to as many people that you know, especially in the Redmond or east side area. I have the incident number and the case and alert number from the other attempted abductions if anyone wants to call the police with questions.
Pauline |
|
