With "Back-to-School" time upon us, police in one Massachusetts town have a warning: A kidnapper may still be on the streets.
Back in April, a 9-year-old boy was abducted from outside the Memorial Park School in Rockland, only to be let go minutes later. The suspect has never been caught.
"It's possible there is an individual out there that is planning to do something like this," Rockland Police Detective Sgt. Gregory Pigeon said.
Detective Sgt. Pigeon has been working the case, and despite more 200 hours logged, the mystery is still an ongoing and a credible one.
As for what happened, the 9 year old left school at dismissal, didn't see his mom or dad there to pick him up, got confused, and then got in the car with a man who looked like his dad's friend, or so he thought.
"This young child typically stayed after school every day, every week for math club for extra homework help. This particular day, he forgot to stay after, so he was released at the normal time," said pigeon.
The stranger's behavior was very odd. Police say he let the boy into the car, put him in the backseat, then drove about three miles.
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"He thought at first this man was taking him to his father’s place of work, he realized that some point along the route that was not what was happening," Pigeon said.
The route was a populated one, through the center of Rockland, down busy Route 123, and into Abington. In their investigation, police went through camera after camera of surveillance, only to find many cameras are pointed on particular businesses, striking out with catching a license plate. They also say the elementary school had no outside cameras.
"The stranger drove him to a local park in a neighboring town, i believe it was too busy. there were cars there, people exercising, things like that, and the stranger drove by the park, turned around, pulled in a parking spot and told the boy to get out," Pigeon said.
The 9 year old, who was familiar with the area, thought fast and ran to the nearby Abington Police Department station.
Police say that while the boy was in the car, there was no conversation and the suspicious man didn't try to touch or grab him.
Over the months, Det. Sgt. Pigeon says he's looked at all avenues, ruled out family and friends. They also say a woman driving behind the abductor was able to corroborate the boy's story.
"We looked at everything from any known sex offenders, any sex offenders with a similar type history, we checked through the board of probation, anybody that was wearing a GPS bracelet," he said.
Police have even screened through 100 people. The suspect is an older white male, with salt and pepper hair and a possible rat tail. He was driving a four door white or light sedan.
The boy's mom was not willing to comment to NECN, saying the family wants to put all of this behind them.
