Wichita girl, 6, reunited with family after being taken along with stolen SUV
A child has been reunited with her family after she was abducted when a man stole an SUV from a parking lot in north Wichita on Sunday evening.
Wichita police identified the suspect as 34-year-old Benjamin Brady, police spokesperson Trevor Macy said in a news release.
Officers responded to an auto theft kidnapping call around 6:49 p.m. at a liquor store parking lot in the 2300 block of N. Amidon. They talked with a 35-year-old man who said a man had stolen his tan Lexus RX330 SUV with his 6-year-old daughter still inside, according to Macy.
Police began searching the area for the Lexus. Using the Flock Safety license plate reader system, officers learned that the vehicle entered the Kansas Turnpike at about 7:02 p.m. heading south, Macy said.
The Kansas Highway Patrol, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Tulsa Police Department were alerted about the Lexus. Troopers from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol stopped the SUV about 22 miles south of the Kansas/Oklahoma border around 8 p.m., Macy said.
The 6-year-old girl was found safe and Brady was booked into the Kay County jail; he will be extradited to Kansas. Police think Brady is homeless, Macy said in an email.
The girl was interviewed by detectives from the WPD Exploited and Missing Child Unit before being reunited with her family.