Police: After third Wichita student was kidnapped, suspect went to work at nearby KFC

After kidnapping a third Wichita Public Schools student in two days, 21-year-old Manasseh Lemuel Ward then went to work about a mile away, police said Friday.

Leaving his blue car in the parking lot of the fast-food restaurant at Harry and Woodlawn helped lead to his capture.

Ward is currently on probation. He was arrested Thursday on suspicion of more than 15 charges including multiple counts each of aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, criminal threat and sexual-related charges in the cases involving a middle school girl and a boy and girl in elementary school.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ward reportedly kidnapped a girl walking home from Curtis Middle School. Police said the suspect forced the girl into his car and sexually assaulted her.

Police never reported the incident to the public and the school district only found out about the first kidnapping after a boy and girl were kidnapped Thursday morning while walking to Clark Elementary School.

Court documents filed Friday for a probation violation against Ward list his last known address as being near 13th and Oliver, but when he was arrested in that case in September 2021, he lived about a half-mile from the middle school and less than 1.5 miles from the elementary school.

The boy abducted Thursday was later dropped off before the girl was released, police said. The girl was sexually assaulted, police said.

When the boy was dropped off, he reported to someone at school what happened and that was then relayed to the police.

Police had spotted a possible suspect vehicle — a blue car — at the KFC business at Harry and Woodlawn where Ward was working, Wichita police spokesperson Trevor Macy said. The boy, while being taken by police to the hospital, was driven by the car and confirmed he believed it was the one being driven by the suspect, Macy said.

Police went to the business and arrested Ward after a short foot chase.

Ward is on probation after being found guilty of aggravated domestic battery and domestic battery, court records show. That incident involved a domestic partner who Ward “knowingly impede(d) the normal breathing” of, records say. He also had been found guilty of aggravated assault in a September 2019 incident that involved a gun. He was originally put on probation in that case as well, court records show.