Akron paper: Attempted abduction proves that no place is totally free of worry

At the request of Bob Taft, the Ohio Senate added restrictions to House Bill 12 that would prevent parents from protecting their children while in a motor vehicle. Had the bad guy in this Six Flags Wyandot Lake camp ground been armed, the unintended result of Taft's "car-jacker/ kidnapper protection" provision might well have been fully displayed.

"It happened so quickly, it took me by surprise,'' Jeanne Stull said. "This creep clearly had nothing good intended. I never dreamed in a million years that being 10 feet away from my own kids in my own vehicle wasn't safe.'' (emphasis added)

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Parents should keep eye on kids
Attempted abduction proves that no place is totally free of worry
Mon, Jul. 28, 2003
By Steve King
Akron Beacon-Journal

David Stull just wanted to take his family out for a nice getaway.

Instead, the Lawrence Township fire chief saw the laughter stop that June afternoon at Six Flags Wyandot Lake when a stranger nearly abducted two of his daughters from the family's RV.

In the wake of several missing and abducted children cases in recent years, there is never a safe situation with a child whether the parents are nearby or not, said Ben Ermini, director of the Missing Children Division for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"One of the biggest misconceptions people have is they think that just because a child is with their parent, that they're in good hands,'' Ermini said. "Kids can be taken out of your sight within a blink of an eye.''

Each year, nearly 800,000 children are reported missing, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -- though the number is deceiving, as family members in custody disputes account for more than 350,000 abductions a year.

Other children reported missing can be runaways or throwaways, kids who leave and don't come back or are told not to come back.

But of the true child abductions that do happen, it's most often a child who is lured to a stranger or a stranger's vehicle.

For the Stulls, the stranger was aggressive.

After returning to their RV for lunch on June 20, the Stulls heard an unfamiliar man talking to their 4- and 8-year-old daughters in the front room. To Jeanne Stull's surprise, she walked in to find a man nearly inside the RV, trying to lure them into his car.

Jeanne Stull's frantic screaming and yelling scared off the intruder, who headed to his car with his head down and sped away. She was able to get the man's description and license plate number and alerted park officials.

"It happened so quickly, it took me by surprise,'' Jeanne Stull said. "This creep clearly had nothing good intended. I never dreamed in a million years that being 10 feet away from my own kids in my own vehicle wasn't safe.''

Police identified a suspect, but no charges were filed, court records from Delaware County show. Jeanne Stull calls that "a bunch of political B.S.'' Prosecutors declined to comment.

Click here to read the full story in the Akron Beacon Journal.