Another story about an alleged teenage kidnapper is making headlines, and this one also ends with the rescue of the young victim. Police in O'Fallon, Missouri, say that 17-year-old John Classen kidnapped his friend's 10-year-old sister with plans to kill her, but cops stopped his car at a roadblock and found the girl inside, reports CBS Local. Authorities say that Classen had become infatuated with the girl over the years, and that his phone contained grisly details of his plot: “Take her to a secondary location, explain everything to her, smother her, rape her dead body, clean up and then pose the body … photograph her, dispose of her body, leave town.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has details of what unfolded early yesterday: Classen allegedly broke into the girl's home after midnight, waited in the basement about four hours, then snuck upstairs and abducted the girl from where she was sleeping on the couch. In the ensuing struggle, police say they fell down the stairs, waking up the family dogs. That allowed the girl's mom to catch a glimpse of her daughter outside the home with her abductor, and to alert police. The girl's brother says Classen first drove her to a wooded area and then, for reasons that are unclear, left with her in the car. Police rescued her at a checkpoint set up nearby. Classen faces charges of child kidnapping, burglary, and two counts of child abuse. The girl's family says she hurt her ankle and suffered bruises when they fell down the stairs but is otherwise OK.
