Kidnapping Attempt Is Thwarted When Girl Asks For 'Code Word'

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kidnapping-attempt-thwarted-girl-asks-215948318.html

[HuffPost]
Nina Golgowski
,HuffPost•November 11, 2018

Authorities say an 11-year-old girl’s request for a “code word” from a would-be kidnapper thwarted her abduction from an Arizona park, offering a chilling lesson for other parents.

The child was walking with a friend in San Tan Valley, southeast of Phoenix, around 4 p.m. on Wednesday when authorities said a white SUV pulled up to them and its male driver urged the girl to get in. The man told the girl that her brother had been in a serious accident and she needed to come with him, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said.

Instead of immediately complying, the girl asked the man for the “code word,” which she had chosen with her parents in case such a situation occurred. The man, not knowing the word, drove away without her.

•••••