The 11-year-old Florida girl who fought back during an attempted kidnapping earlier this week said she smeared some of the blue “slime” she was playing with so that police would more easily locate the suspect.
Her plan worked.
“I was able to get the slime on to his upper arm, and a little bit on his lower arm,” Alyssa told NBC’s “TODAY” in an interview that aired on Thursday.
“I knew that that might be better evidence if the cops do find him,” Alyssa said, adding that her fast thinking was inspired by watching “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” with her mom.
She had been mixing the homemade “slime” with blue paint while waiting for the bus near her Escambia County home Tuesday morning when the man pulled up in a white car and ran toward her.
“The man got out of his vehicle holding a knife, came towards me and I tried to run but he caught me,” Alyssa said.
May 19, 202100:59
Home surveillance video of the attempted kidnapping that helped lead police to the suspect’s home shows the man tried to carry Alyssa to his car before stumbling and running off without her.
“She fought, and she never gave up,” Sheriff Chip Simmons said later at a news conference.
Alyssa told authorities the same white car approached her two weeks ago and the driver tried to speak to her. She reported that incident to her parents and school principal.
Now, she said she feels “brave, proud — excited too. Brave and proud of myself, but mostly proud of myself.”
The suspect, Jared Paul Stanga, 30, is charged with attempted kidnapping of a child and aggravated assault and battery and is being held on $1,505,000 bond. His lawyer declined to comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
