RIVERSIDE, Mo. — A woman came to the rescue of a seventh-grade girl who was assaulted and nearly abducted early Monday morning in Riverside.
Riverside police said around 6:30 a.m. the woman was driving down NW Gateway Road near Mandan Road when she saw a man in a ski mask grab a girl at a school bus stop and attempt to drag her into some nearby woods. The woman made a U-turn and began yelling at the man.
The man then ran into the woods, leaving the girl behind.
Shortly after, another individual was walking his dog when a man wearing the same color and type of clothing walked out of the woods. The man walking his dogs asked if everything was okay and the suspect replied that his car had broken down. He then ran off.
Police believe that man is the same person who attempted to abduct the girl. When he came out of the woods and met the man waking his dog, he was not wearing a ski mask, making it possible for the witness to give a vague description of him.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, approximately 30 years of age, 5’8″, 150 pounds with a thin goatee. The suspect was wearing a two-tone light over dark jacket, with a hood, which may or may not be connected to the jacket. The jacket was detailed as having a strip-running horizontal, separating the light color from the dark. The sleeve of the jacket may have a three triangle or diamond shaped logo of some type. The suspect was also wearing light colored jean type pants.
“There were too many witnesses, too many of the facts stood out that this actually happened,” said Brent Holland of the Riverside Police Department. “There was no false alarm here.”
The girl was not seriously injured, but was reportedly shaken by the incident. This is the fourth time this year an attempted abduction has been reported in the Parkhill School District.
