AURORA | The man police say snatched an 8-year-old girl from her Aurora bedroom is now behind bars on kidnapping charges after investigators said DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
John Stanley Snorsky, 26, is facing four felonies — second-degree kidnapping, first-degree burglary, second- degree burglary and enticement of a child — as well as misdemeanor assault and child abuse charges. If convicted of all the charges, Snorsky could face more than 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Snorsky will be formally advised of the charges in court Nov. 8.
In an arrest affidavit filed against Snorsky, police say they found his DNA on clothes the girl was wearing Oct. 28 when investigators say the artist and deli employee snatched her in the middle of the night from her bed.
The girl told police that a man came to her window, said his name was “Jonathan,” told her he knew her parents and asked her to give him a hug. The girl said she told the man, “I can’t talk to strangers,” and tried to climb off the bed and flee.
But, the girl said, the man reached through the open window and grabbed her, covering her mouth with a gloved hand as he fled toward the alley behind the home, according to the affidavit.
The girl said she screamed, and the man dropped her. Her father ran out of the house and saw the man speed away in what he thought was a silver BMW sedan, but police now say was Snorsky’s silver Mercedes Benz.
Police turned their attention to Snorsky when a woman who said she was Snorsky’s foster mother called in a tip about him. The woman, who police say asked to remain anonymous, said she had seen Snorsky peruse child pornography before and that he recently started going by the name “Jonathan.”
In the affidavit, filed by Aurora police Detective Christine Hurley, investigators said the girl told them early on that the man who grabbed her said his name was “Jonathan.” Police hadn’t released that detail to the public before the woman called in her tip.
Snorsky was arrested early last week on an unrelated theft case and a parole violation.
While he was in custody, police interviewed Snorsky and he told officers that the night of the kidnapping, he was in Boulder, then a concert in Denver. He said he returned home around midnight and didn’t make any stops on the way.
Police told Snorsky they wanted to eliminate him as a suspect and he told investigators “I would do anything” to clear his name. He later asked for a lawyer and the interview ended.
Before he asked for a lawyer police said Snorsky told them he didn’t own a black jacket like the one the kidnapper wore. But when investigators later searched his home, they say they found a black jacket.
Before his arrest last week, Snorsky kept an active presence online at www.johnathansart.com. His Facebook.com page features details about his striking artwork, and his personal website details his art as well as his troubled past. He gives an interview about his life and art on Youtube.
According to his website, Snorsky was orphaned as a child and spent the bulk of his adult life in prison on burglary charges. Snorsky said he was trying to start an organization called the Tyro Program that would link troubled youth with local artists who could serve as mentors.
“Instead of looking up to drug dealers and thugs, I want to help these kids see that life has so many opportunities and that they can succeed if you work hard,” he wrote.
He said he planned to give 10 percent of the proceeds from the sale of his art to the organization, and asked for donations on his website, but the group doesn’t appear on the Colorado Secretary of State’s online list of registered charities.
It remains unclear from the affidavit what connection, if any, Snorsky had to the girl.
He lived in southeast Aurora, about 15 miles from the girl’s home, but police said on Saturday he may have had connections to her neighborhood.
Police said they are looking for more information about Snorsky and are looking into his contacts with children.
Division Chief Rob McGregor said police are looking closely at those issues and have even worked with federal authorities to see if Snorsky may have left the state, but the investigation is ongoing.
“We haven’t been able to determine any of that at this point,” he said.