PHOENIX – A 5-year-old girl was found safe over seven hours after being abducted from a Phoenix apartment complex, and police have a suspect in custody.
Larry Jon Ladwig, 45, was booked into jail for kidnapping, sexual molestation of a child, aggravated assault on a police officer and felony flight.
A Phoenix police officer spotted the suspect's truck around 9:30 p.m. and tried to pull the vehicle over. A brief chase ensued and the vehicle came to a stop at the intersection of Thunderbird Road and 21st Avenue. The suspect was captured and the little girl was found in the truck unharmed.
The victim was taken to the hospital where she will be reunited with her family.
An Amber Alert had been issued after the little girl was taken from the Saddleback Mountain Apartments in the 12400 block of N. 19th Avenue at approximately 2:15 p.m.
The young victim and her two sisters, ages 7 and 9, were playing outside when a man parked his truck in the parking lot next to where the girls were playing. The girls told police the man was taking pictures of them and trying to pull their pants down. He then grabbed her, put her in his truck and sped off, hitting a parked car in the process. One of the sisters ran to a neighbor's apartment, and that neighbor called 911.
The girls are living with an aunt -- who has legal custody of them -- and the aunt's boyfriend in an apartment at the complex. Their parents live separately out of state.
Ladwig was on parole related to drug charges at the time of the crime.
