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| Erica gets away... |
| 2002-07-24 |
| A 7-year-old Philadelphia girl, abducted as she played outside the home of her grandmother on Monday night, was able to free herself and flee to safety after about nearly 24 hours of captivity. Erica Pratt, a 3-foot-5-inch, 70-pound child, was bound with duct tape and locked in the pitch-dark basement of an abandoned home in north Philadelphia by a pair of kidnappers. But the girl gnawed her way through the tape bound around her hands and feet, kicked out a panel in a locked basement door and shouted for help from the front window of the building. Three youngsters heard her, summoned two police officers, and Erica was in protective custody by 8:53 p.m. Tuesday. "She's tired, she's shook up, but she's a very strong little girl," police Chief Inspector Robert Davis told reporters after the girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to have duct tape removed from her hair and a bloodshot eye examined. She's one brave and resourceful little girl. Nancy Drew's got nothin' on her. Meanwhile, police said they were looking for two suspects in the abduction identified as James Burns, 29, and Edward Johnson, 23, both of Philadelphia, who were described as having long criminal records. I'm glad this one worked out the way it did. The first thought that popped into my mind when I saw it on terriblevision was that it was a Kopycat Killer, and that she'd be found lying by the side of the road like Samantha. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #6 "Genetics isn't everything"... If the whole family seems predisposed to be goofy, that doesn't mean Erica follows the family predisposition. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-07-25 05:59:24 |
| #5 "Apparently genetics isn't everything" Steve -- What did you mean by this comment? I must not be following you. |
| Posted by: Rob 2002-07-24 18:06:15 |
| #4 Keep an eye on that one! I agree with Steve, she'll go a long way. I just hope she joins the right side. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2002-07-24 17:56:54 |
| #3 There must have been some reason she was living with her grandmother, but nobody's blaming this on the parents. The uncle DID deal drugs, and grandma was thought -- it's not confirmed -- to have received a $150K death benefit. Inquirer story |
| Posted by: Dan Hartung 2002-07-24 14:02:05 |
| #2 I have a nine year old, and it's hard for me to imagine that at seven, she would have done this. Kicked out a door panel? This young girl is going to go a long way in life. Apparently genetics isn't everything. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-07-24 12:54:09 |
| #1 actually, looks like the drug-dealing antics of her parents as well as common-knowledge in the 'hood that they'd received a $150,000 payment (Foxnews had this, but I don't recall if it was an inheritance, insurance chk , or what), which is coincidentally what the ransom demand was....those two thugs that have their mugshots on the news nationwide are dead meat... and although the mother lived less than a block away, the brave little girl was living with her Grandmother...sad case, even with a good ending |
| Posted by: F Gaines 2002-07-24 11:43:08 |