WELLSTON, MO (KTVI)– Police in Wellston are looking for a man they believe was trying to kidnap a teenage girl walking to school Tuesday morning. It happened just blocks from Normandy High School.
The 16-year-old girl was walking along St. Charles Rock Road near Lulu when her mother says she saw a man near the bus stop. But something didn’t add up.
“She said a bus passed she noticed he didn’t get on the bus,” the girl’s mother, Monica told us. “And she passed the bus stop and he grabbed her. And he said….”Don’t f—— jerk away from me. That’s what he said.”
But the teen didn’t listen, instead fighting for her life.
“She fought him off. She fought him all the way into the street to the yellow line on the Rock Road.”
She ran for the Pagedale Metrolink station, just one of several sound decisions according to police.
“She did a lot of things right,” Wellston Lt. Chris Clay said. “She knew where to go because there’s always a security officer at the Pagedale Metrolink stop so she knew where to go that was safe.”
Now police say they’ll be upping their presence in the area around Normandy High, hoping to keep kids safe and track down what they consider to be a very dangerous man.
“He didn’t care,” Clay said of the brazen attack. “He wanted what he wantedand it didn’t matter if police were aroundand this is a major road. It didn’t matter if cars were around. He just did what he wanted to do.”
“I’m very disappointed,” Monica said, sighing. “It’s crazy out here. It’s crazy out here. We have an awful lot of kids on the streets up and down here. I don’t know. I just hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Police say the suspect is a black male, in his thirties, with a skinny build. He’s bald. They say he was last seen wearing a white, tee shirt style, tank top, blue jean shorts, and a blue visor. He was carrying a black bag.
If you have any information you’re asked to contact Wellston Police at (314) 553-8010 or Crimestoppers at 866-371-TIPS.
