At $20,000, the reward police are offering for information about a man who kidnapped an 8-year-old girl from her bedroom is the largest reward Aurora police have offered.
Police announced the reward Oct. 29, a day after police say a man grabbed the girl from her bedroom on Hanover Street and carried her to an alley before dropping her and fleeing in a silver or gray BMW.
A police department spokeswoman said the reward is the largest in the department’s history and is more than twice the reward police offered in 2008 for information about the slaying of a city code officer.
Police offered a $10,000 reward a day earlier but doubled that amount Oct. 29 when Shortline Auto Group of Aurora added another $10,000. Don Hicks, owner of the auto dealership group, said he hopes the reward is sizable enough to get the attention of people who might otherwise not come forward.
“If what we did changes the outcome here and we can hurriedly get this guy off the streets, than it was money well-invested,” he said.
The suspect in the kidnapping is described as a white man with blond hair driving a silver or gray BMW sedan.
Police say he grabbed the girl around midnight from her bedroom in a home in the 1600 block of Hanover Street.
The man carried the girl to an alley behind the home where she screamed and managed to break free.
The girl’s father came out of the house and the man sped away, police said.
The girl’s bedroom sits on the north side of the house facing a two-story apartment complex. The rear of the house is surrounded by a 6-foot high privacy fence, but just a short chain link fence separates the girl’s window from the apartment building’s public walkway.
Police Chief Dan Oates said during a press conference Oct. 29 that the girl was in her bedroom with the light on when the man broke in by cutting a window screen and opening the unlocked window.
Press reports have quoted the girl’s family as saying she was awake and doing homework when the man approached. Aurora police spokeswoman Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said police aren’t confirming details about what the girl was doing when the man approached the window.
Carlson said police are taking the case very seriously and detectives have followed up on numerous leads, though no arrest has been made.
Oates said Monday that investigators have been working nonstop since the call came in shortly after midnight Oct. 29.
“We are treating this matter extremely seriously. We believe there is a predator out there and he needs to be caught,” Oates said.
Police say that while the outcome wasn’t as bad as it could have been — the girl escaped with only abrasions — the crime itself is particularly horrifying: a child sitting in her bedroom, snatched by a stranger.
Hicks said when he heard about the crime he and his wife decided they had to do something.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Detective Christine Hurley at 303-739-6113. They can also remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867) or text a tip to 274637.