SEYMOUR — A 12-year-old girl abducted as she waited for her mother outside a Seymour business late Tuesday called 911 from inside her mother's stolen vehicle and helped police track her down.
It started around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of a shopping center in the 1200 block of East Tipton Street in Seymour, according to reports from the Seymour Police Department and Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office.
Seymour police said a woman reported that her vehicle was missing and her 12-year-old daughter was inside. As officers were speaking with the woman, police received a 911 call from the woman's daughter who told police an unknown woman took her mother's vehicle and she was being held against her will.
The girl told police the vehicle was traveling east on Tipton Street and then turned north on Interstate 65. Police said the girl stayed on the line with dispatchers and continued to provide landmarks, which helped officers track down the vehicle. Officers from the Columbus Police Department and the sheriff's office located the vehicle in the area of the 68 mile marker a short time later. Troopers from the Indiana State Police also assisted at the scene.
A 28-year-old Seymour woman who reportedly took the vehicle was arrested without incident, police said.
Deputies said the girl told the suspect she was in the backseat, however, the suspect reportedly told the girl she "had to get away from someone who had just killed multiple people." Deputies said the suspect's claim was later determined to be false.
"Fortunately, this case had a positive outcome," Bartholomew County Sheriff Matthew Myers said in a statement. "Multiple agencies and dispatch worked well together to recover this missing child quickly and safely. As parents, we take a risk anytime we leave a child alone in a motor vehicle, no matter how briefly."
Formal charges have not yet been filed against the suspect.
