Report: Teen suspected of kidnapping 10-year-old he had a crush on
O'FALLON, Mo. - Police arrested a man suspected of kidnapping a 10-year-old girl after he stopped at a suburban St. Louis checkpoint with the child in his vehicle.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the girl was reported missing from her burglarized home around 5:25 a.m. Thursday. O'Fallon Police Chief Roy Joachimstaler said a man was stopped around 6 a.m. at a checkpoint that was set up not far from the girl's home. Police discovered the girl in the car and took her to a hospital.
The newspaper reports that the girl's brother said the person accused of the kidnapping is a 17-year0ld high school senior who had a crush on the 10-year-old. The brother told the newspaper that the suspect sent his little sister a message on social media last summer saying that she was cute and that he loved her.
Joachimstaler says police were "very, very fortunate to get on it right away."