Suspects Sought in Attempted Kidnapping of Santa Maria Baby
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The Santa Maria Police Department is investigating an attempted child abduction from the FoodMaxx grocery store located at 1970 N. Broadway.
“To say its a kidnapping or attempted kidnapping at this point is a stretch its something we are working through but there might other reasonable explanations for what occurred,” said Sgt. Russell Menegel with the Santa Maria Police Department.
Authorities say the child’s aunt was shopping with the 11-month-old infant who was strapped in a child’s seat on top of the aunt’s shopping cart, Tuesday evening.
“While in the produce department she noticed two females looking around in the same department. The aunt walked away from her shopping cart towards one of the fruit displays. She was about four feet away from her niece when she heard her niece moaning,” said SMPD in a statement. “She turned around and one of the females was holding onto her niece who was still strapped to the child seat.”
Police say at that point, the child’s aunt confronted the two female suspects who quickly set the infant down and began walking towards the store’s exit.
“We are trying to figure out the dynamics if the child was fussing and different things we are looking at to see if there was criminal intent,” said Sgt. Mengel.
The first suspect is described as a Hispanic woman in her 40’s, 5 feet 3 inches tall, light complexion with short hair. She was last seen wearing a grey hoodie sweatshirt, and spoke English.
The second suspect is described as a Hispanic woman in her 40’s, 5 feet 3 inches tall, heavy set with a medium complexion, and was last seen wearing a grey sweatshirt.
Anyone with information regarding this attempted abduction case is urged to call the Santa Maria Police Department.
