Police: Missing 5-year-old girl found safe in Queens; man taken into custody
NEW YORK -- Police are investigating a potential kidnapping in Queens after good Samaritans found a young child who went missing with an older man Tuesday.
The 75-year-old suspect was being questioned at the police precinct. Charges for him are pending.
Police are still trying to piece together this confusing story, but what's most important is that 5-year-old girl is safe and found.
The NYPD scoured Jackson Heights for hours Tuesday with K-9s and helicopters, trying to track down the 5-year-old girl.
Her mother called 911 at 1 p.m. saying her daughter was missing.
Sources tell CBS New York, hours earlier, the child was at Foodtown supermarket on 37th Avenue with her mother at 9 a.m. The girl wanted to go to the park, but her mom did not.
We're told the mom ran into an acquaintance at the store -- a 75-year-old man she had taken the bus with -- and, for some reason, agreed to let the man take her daughter to the park.
The man and child were last seen holding hands in the grocery store.
Hours passed and the mom could not get a hold of them.
Nearly eight hours later, around 4:30 p.m., police say three good Samaritans recognized the child from news reports. She was with the man at the Roosevelt Avenue subway station around the corner from the Foodtown.
The good Samaritans flagged down an officer, and cops took the man into custody and brought the girl into the precinct, where she was evaluated by EMTs and reunited with her mother.
Police are trying to figure out why the mother trusted this man with her child. Police say they were acquaintances at best.
Sources tell us investigators expect to search his Upper Manhattan apartment and likely press charges by Wednesday.
