Man who kidnapped Wichita school kids held girls at knife point before forcing sex: affidavit
Two school girls abducted earlier this month in east Wichita told police their kidnapper threatened them with a knife before forcing himself on them.
In one case, he lured his victims into his vehicle with an offer to take them to school because it was cold outside, an affidavit says.
The man, 21-year-old Manasse’h Ward, is facing 13 charges, including kidnapping and rape in the abductions of the girls, 13 and 10, who were sexually assaulted and of a 7-year-old boy. Wichita police, in an affidavit released Friday, said the 13-year-old was walking home from Curtis Middle School on Jan. 4 when Ward “grabbed her from behind” with a pocket knife and “told her to get in, otherwise he would kill her.” Ward’s public defender did not immediately respond to an emailed message seeking comment Friday afternoon.
Ward drove her to Boston Park and sexually assaulted her before letting her go, the affidavit says. Curtis Middle School is at 1031 S. Edgemoor. Boston Park is at 6655 E. Zimmerly, near Harry and Woodlawn.
The next morning, Ward pulled a blue Chevrolet Spark alongside the 10-year-old girl and the 7-year-old boy while they were walking to Clark Elementary School, 650 S. Apache Dr. He offered them a ride because “it was cold outside,” according to the affidavit.
When they got to the school, Ward let the boy out but told the girl “to do exactly what he said so that nobody would be hurt,” the document says.
He pulled a knife from the side of his seat “and put it to her head” and drove off, the affidavit says. At one point, he even laid the knife blade ”flat against her cheek,” the affidavit says the girl told authorities.
Ward then drove the girl around, stopping at four different “destinations.” At each, Ward forced a sex act, the affidavit says the girl told authorities.
When she refused, Ward “told her to do it or he would kill her,” the affidavit says. After the assaults, Ward dropped her off at school and headed to work at a nearby KFC restaurant, police have said.
Wichita police have said the boy helped officers confirm that a blue Chevy Spark sitting in the KFC parking lot was the same one driven by the man who had abducted them. The boy was able to identify the car in part because he remembered the car’s “white, fuzzy steering wheel cover” and high rear door handles, the affidavit says.
When police asked who owned the car, a KFC employee told them Ward did and called for him to come over.
But instead of talking to officers, Ward “climbed out the drive through window” and ran, the affidavit says. Police caught him a short time later.
Ward is charged with one count each of kidnapping and aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy with a child, two counts of child rape, one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of interference with law enforcement. He remains in the Sedgwick County Jail on bonds totaling $1.6 million while awaiting his next court date, a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 26.
