A 9-year-old girl was abducted while walking home from school Tuesday afternoon and sexually assaulted.
The girl was walking alone from Woodstock Elementary School, 6015 S. 1300 East, eastbound on Vine Street near 1580 East about 3:30 p.m. when a man abducted her, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Potter."We think this was just a surprise attack," Potter said. There was no dialogue exchanged or any type of luring before the attack. The man took the girl into his pickup truck and blindfolded her. He then sexually assaulted the girl repeatedly, Potter said.
The man kept the girl between two and three hours and then took her back to the same place where she had been abducted.
Since the girl was blindfolded much of the time, police don't have a reliable description of the man, Potter said. However, a witness who saw the girl get dropped off provided a reliable description of the pickup truck.
Police are looking for a late-model, dark green pickup truck with an extended cab, matching shell and long tinted windows.
The girl was treated at an area hospital for physical and emotional trauma. She was later released to her parents.
Wednesday afternoon, police saturated the area surrounding the school with marked and unmarked patrol cars and a helicopter.
"It's affected the entire school," Potter said. "We are hoping somebody will come forward with more detail."
Police recommend parents teach their children to travel in groups and to draw attention to themselves whenever somebody tries to kidnap them. Phrases such as "you're not my dad (or mom)" lets witnesses realize the children are being kidnapped, Potter said.
Anyone with information regarding the suspect or the suspect's pickup truck should contact the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office at 535-5857.