Police sirens from a cruiser.
New information is emerging in the story of a young girl who was allegedly abducted on Monday, with police now saying that she knew at least one of the suspects in the case.
According to authorities in suburban Dolton, the 14-year-old girl texted her father Monday afternoon to tell him that she was in a vehicle at a White Castle restaurant with “people that she didn’t know.”
She then told her father that the individuals “wanted money,” and police were dispatched to the restaurant.
Before they arrived, the girl’s father saw the vehicle, and as she tried to get out, the vehicle sped away from the restaurant.
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Police eventually found the vehicle and pursued it, but lost sight of it near the 87th Street exit on the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway. An Illinois State Police cruiser was seen damaged at the scene after the pursuit went through the area.
Approximately eight hours later, an AMBER Alert was issued for the girl. Police now say that the delay occurred because investigators learned that the girl knew at least one of the individuals that she was in the vehicle with, but the decision was made to issue the alert “because the juvenile did not immediately turn up,” according to police.
Just after 2 a.m., the suspected vehicle, along with the girl and two other individuals, were located in the 13100 block of South Champlain in Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens neighborhood.
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Police say that two juveniles, both of whom the girl knew, were taken into custody. She was turned over to her parents at that time.
Authorities also say that the girl was “not forthcoming with information” when she was questioned by detectives.
No charges have officially been filed yet, and an investigation remains underway.
