Suspect in teen girl’s kidnapping and rape ‘an evil guy,’ Wichita police chief says

The registered sex offender and parolee charged with kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl who was walking home from Dillons is “an evil guy” and doesn’t “deserve another chance,” the Wichita police chief said.

Police Chief Gordon Ramsay’s comments came during Thursday’s meeting of the Citizen’s Review Board, where he was asked about the city’s crime rate and share of parolees.

“We have the state parolee a few weeks ago who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl off of Douglas,” Ramsay said. “Very concerning crimes, not only from a police chief perspective, but also as a father. DOC couldn’t have done anything different in the case with our parolee who committed that act. He had been convicted of a similar crime in 2004. He did his time and was released, and was on parole. He had met all the mandatory requirements for his registering.

“My only thoughts is the guy is just an evil guy, and while I am a believer in criminal justice reform — and if someone can be reformed they probably deserve that chance — I don’t think he deserves another chance.”

A police captain at the meeting confirmed later that Ramsay was referring to the arrest of Anthony Craig Seymour.

Seymour, a 58-year-old man, is charged with several crimes in connection to the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl who was walking home from a Dillons store at Douglas and Hillside. The incident happened Nov. 18.

He is charged in Sedgwick County District Court with aggravated kidnapping, rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated robbery and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He remains held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Seymour is a lifetime registered sex offender in the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s registry for a 2004 conviction in Sedgwick County for the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Kansas Department of Corrections records show he was released from prison in 2016.

A police detective wrote in court documents that as the teenage girl walked to the grocery store, Seymour yelled at her “you’re too cute to run over.” The girl called a friend and was on the phone as she started to walk home.

She ran across the parking lot before Seymour pulled his car in front of her. She told police that he then grabbed her by her hair, put a knife to her throat and forced her into his car. The girl told investigators that she offered to give Seymour money, but he demanded sex and raped her.

Two cops then arrived in the area. Wearing only a shirt and a bra, the girl jumped out of the moving car, which ran over her hand. Seymour drove away, and the girl was taken to a hospital.

Investigators used the GPS on the girl’s phone and security camera video to get the car’s tag number. They then went to his home in the 1900 block of North Lorraine, which was his address listed in the KBI’s offender registry. Seymour was arrested, and police said he claimed another person had borrowed his vehicle while he was getting high at his brother’s house.

This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 7:19 PM.