Girl, 11, tackled by suspected abductor used tactic from Law & Order to help police catch him
Knowing it would make police search easier, girl smeared attacker with blue slime
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An 11-year-old girl fought off an attempt to kidnap her at a Florida bus stop and, thanks to watching TV show Law & Order: SVU, knew to leave evidence on her attacker to aid the police search for him.
Alyssa Bonal was playing with homemade blue slime while waiting for a bus in Pensacola on Tuesday morning when a man ran towards her.
As he grabbed her by the throat and threatened her with a knife, she was able to trip him and get blue dye from the slime on his arms.
The residue from the slime was part of the evidence that led police to arrest Jared Paul Stanga and charge him with attempted kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery.
Amber Bonal, Alyssa’s mother said her daughter told her: “Somebody tried to kidnap me. He grabbed me by my throat and he had a knife.”
Speaking to Pensacola News Journal on Wednesday, Ms Bonal added: “She said, ‘Mom, I had to leave some sort of evidence behind, like on Law & Order: SVU.’”
“We’ve watched probably every episode on Hulu. She’s a smart cookie, she thinks on her toes. She got that slime everywhere.”
Ms Bonal says that by coincidence she had spoken with her daughter a few days prior about what to do if someone tried to abduct her, telling her to kick and scream and bite and yell, and then run to the first open door when she gets away.
Police were also able to track down Mr Stanga via surveillance footage of his white Dodge Journey which was found at his home. The video shows the attempted kidnapping.
He had attempted to paint over the front chrome bumper with black paint when Escambia County deputies arrived at the property. It was then that they saw the blue dye.
A judge set Mr Stanga’s bond at $1.5m in his first court appearance on Wednesday. His defence lawyer argues that there are doubts as to whether he is the suspect as Alyssa was unable to select him from a photo lineup and had originally described him as Hispanic, whereas he is white.
Two weeks before the attempted kidnapping, Alyssa told her mother that a man in a white car had pulled up and spoken to her while she waited for the bus.
She had run off to another bus stop and told a teacher when she got to school, who then told the principal. Ms Bonal is angry that no one from the school contacted her, but the school insists they left a voicemail.
She now hopes to get the message out to other parents about what to do in the event of an attempted kidnapping.