Would-be kidnappings in Elyria, Lorain

Jon Wysochanski, Lisa Roberson and Katie Nix
The Chronicle-Telegram

ELYRIA — At 3:45 a.m. Thursday, Elyria police received a frantic call from a father with a terrifying story: A man had reached into his 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom window, grabbed her legs and tried to pull her toward him.

The girl thwarted his efforts and woke her father when she ran screaming into his bedroom, police said.

Less than three hours later, Lorain police were scrambling around the city after three girls reported that a man with a similar description approached and groped two of them and exposed himself to the third girl.

BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE A Lorain Police Department Auxiliary unit sits outside the Lorain Community Middle School at 4th and Washington on Thursday, Feb. 26.

The spree in Lorain started at 6:07 a.m. The final incident was reported at 7:46 a.m.

As of late Thursday, no suspects had been arrested, and police could not say with any certainty that the incidents were connected.

“We are in close contact with Lorain police, sharing information and certainly not ruling out the possibility of a connection,” said Elyria Police Capt. Chris Costantino. “This is a person we need to find and find quickly.”

As a result of the Lorain incidents, Lorain Schools were in lockdown Thursday as a precaution, and Elyria and Amherst school districts sent out automatic calls cautioning parents to be aware of the whereabouts of their children. Firelands Schools posted a similar message to parents online.

At dismissal time for both Elyria and Lorain schools, police targeted the schools and the routes used by students who walk home.

Throughout the day Thursday, Elyria detectives and members of the Cleveland division of the FBI Evidence Response Team scoured the home at 606 Furnace St., looking for evidence. The entire bedroom window was removed and taken for processing.

The girl’s father, whose name has not been released by police, told officers that his daughter said someone grabbed her legs and tried to pull her out of the bedroom window. She described the person as a white male in his 30s with brown eyes. He was described as wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood tied tightly around the face.

The girl told police the man had said if she cooperated he wouldn’t hurt her or her family, but she managed to break free and ran for help.

Police said the girl’s father went outside and saw that someone had placed a stepladder from the yard against the house beneath his daughter’s window.

After the police left the home Thursday, the girl’s father told reporters that his daughter was fine. The girl’s mother said the incident was the most terrifying thing to ever happen to her family.

“We’re doing fine,” the girl’s father said. “I hope they catch who was coming in my window because I sure didn’t. But I tried.”

The incident made neighbors fearful.

Samantha Marshall, who lives next door to the family, said she is afraid for her two small children as well as the many students who walk home from the Horizon Activities Center in the former Cascade school building.

“This is the fourth incident today, and I’m truly terrified,” Marshall said while pointing to children’s toys in the yard and saying she wouldn’t let the kids outside to play in the snow despite their pleas to do so. “Whoever is doing this should be caught as soon as possible before something really bad happens.”

Jacob Couts, a friend of the Elyria victim’s father, stopped by the home Wednesday afternoon and said he can’t recall anything like this happening before, although he believes crime in general has been getting worse in the neighborhood.

Couts added that in the eight years he’s known the family, he has never seen any fights or problems at the home or at the homes of neighbors.

“I mean we have our bugs in the neighborhood, but this is to the extreme,” Couts said. “We’re hoping this all gets settled in both Lorain and Elyria.”

According to a sexual offender database, there are several registered sex offenders in the Furnace Street vicinity, including people who were charged in the past with sex crimes involving juvenile males and females younger than 13.

In the Lorain incidents, Lorain police Sgt. Buddy Sivert said the description given by all of the girls was of a white male in his mid 20s who was wearing all black with a black ski mask or a black cloth covering his face.

He approached the girls on the city’s west side.

The first incident happened at 6:07 a.m. in the area of Washington Avenue and West Ninth Street. The man grabbed a juvenile girl by the arm, made a threatening comment and punched her twice. She screamed, and the man ran from the area. Neighbors heard the girl’s screams and told police the man ran toward West Eighth Street.

At 7:20 a.m. in the area of Oberlin Avenue and West Eighth Street, a man believed to be the same suspect exposed himself and followed a juvenile girl into a yard before running west on West Eighth Street.

About 26 minutes later in the area of West 18th Street and Oakdale Avenue, a man grabbed a girl from behind and ran east on West 18th Street when she started kicking and screaming.

The oldest girl was 13 and the others were younger students, possibly elementary students.

Sivert said two of the incidents — the one at 6:07 a.m. and another at 7:46 a.m. — are being classified as sexual assaults. In the encounter that took place at 7:20 a.m., the man exposed himself to the girl.

“We don’t want to go into detail about what he said,” Sivert said. “There were vulgar comments, threatening comments.”

Sivert said extra patrols were in the area and detectives were asking residents and businesses in the area that may have captured video of the incidents to call police.

None of the victims mentioned a vehicle, so the suspect was likely on foot, Sivert said.

Sivert said there’s nothing other than a similar suspect description to tie the Lorain incidents to what happened in Elyria, nor to the incident last week in which 2-year-old Lorain resident Lana Lowther went missing for four hours.

A motorist found the toddler at about 12:45 a.m. Feb. 18 after she went missing and, based upon her body temperature, police believe Lana had not been outside the duration of the four-hour period she was missing. They are investigating a possible abduction.

“We don’t have anything specific to tie any of these different instances together,” Sivert said. “We’re not ruling anything out at this point, but there’s a lot that’s still unknown at this point.”

Lorain Superintendent Jeffrey Graham praised the girls for their quick thinking.

“They did the right thing and got adult help,” he said. “Lorain police reacted immediately and thoroughly.”

Elyria Schools Spokeswoman Amy Higgins said Elyria stepped up precautions at dismissal as a result of what happened on Furnace Street and in Lorain.

“We want parents to be alert and aware of their children at dismissal,” Higgins said. “We will have extra staff at dismissal, and police officers will be in the neighborhoods around the school. We don’t want to panic anyone or cause any fear, but we want parents to be aware of how their children are going home.”

Lorain Schools spokeswoman Erin Gadd said the district lifted the lockdown late Thursday but remained cautious.

“While the school lockdown has been lifted, we remain in high alert,” she said.

District officials are asking parents to escort children to bus stops, walk them to and from school and to speak with their children about how to respond if a stranger approaches them.

In all three cases reported to police Thursday morning, the students yelled, fought and ran to safety.

“We are relieved to share that all three students are safe,” Gadd said.

All events before and after school will go on as planned, with increased police presence at all buildings.

Anyone with information on the incidentshould call Elyria police at 323-3302 or Lorain police at 204-2100.

Contact Jon Wysochanski at 329-7123 or jwysochanski@chroniclet.com. Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com. Contact Katie Nix at 329-7129 or knix@chroniclet.com.