Parker child-abduction-attempt report a mistake: Panic following Austin Sigg arrest?
Yesterday, we shared information from Parker police about what officers described as an apparent child-abduction attempt. Turns out the operative word in that sentence was "apparent," since cops now say the report was mistaken -- evidence of how rattled nerves remain following this month's disappearance of Jessica Ridgeway and the arrest of teenager Austin Sigg for the ten-year-old Westminster girl's kidnapping and murder. Details below.
Big photos below.
At about 2:34 p.m. on Sunday, as we reported, police were dispatched to the 2300 block of Broadmoore Drive in Parker. There, they learned that an eight-year-old boy had been approached by a white male in a light-colored dress shirt; he was behind the wheel of a black, four-door vehicle and in the company of a teenage girl. The man allegedly asked the boy to get into the car, but he ran home instead and told his parents what happened, prompting a call to the cops.
Shortly thereafter, Parker police released the following photo of the vehicle in question:
Sounded scary, particularly in light of recent events. But after finding the driver of the vehicle, 7News reports, Parker officers discovered that the man was looking for a nearby address and merely wanted to ask the boy for directions when he panicked.
The suspect sedan, courtesy of 7News.
This isn't the first time since Jessica Ridgeway went missing on October 5 that a benign incident was misinterpreted as a possible criminal act. A couple of weeks back, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office circulated the photo of a car allegedly involved in a potential child abduction in Golden, a community south of Pattridge Park, the open space area where Jessica's remains were located days after she vanished. Here's that image:
Soon thereafter, however, the young driver turned himself in to authorities in order to clear himself from suspicion. He told cops he'd approached a thirteen-year-old boy to get info about his former girlfriend, not to snatch the child -- but because of the concerns raised by Jessica's case, he instantly became a kidnapping suspect.
Such occurrences are to be expected after such a shocking crime -- and don't be surprised if other reports turn out to be similarly innocent. Let's hope so, anyway.
Continue to see our previous coverage of the child-abduction-attempt report, as well as a previous Parker incident.
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