Knife-Wielding Florida Man Apprehended After Attempted Kidnapping of 11-Year-Old Girl: Police
Alyssa Bonal is a quick-thinking young woman who has proven this past week that she is not to be messed with. At just 11, she’s shown an amazing amount of resourcefulness and bravery while thwarting a would-be kidnapping and acting beyond that to ensure her attacker would be identified.
It started on Tuesday just before 7 a.m., in Escambia County, Florida, while Alyssa waited for the bus. She sat mixing up some blue homemade slime.
Surveillance video showed a white SUV pause on a nearby corner, and then a man jumped out of the car and ran right for her.
Realizing the stranger was charging at her, Alyssa quickly got up and started running — but he caught up to her and grabbed her.
“What is he going to do with me?” she recalled thinking, according to WJXT-TV. “Where is he going to — where is he going to — where am I going to be at?”
“He took me with his arm and I was able to get him down to the ground and I was able to get away.
Alyssa managed to break free and run, but she also made sure to smear some of the blue slime on his skin in hopes that it would help identify him later.
“I knew that that might be better evidence for if the cops do find him,” she said, according to “Today.”
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The idea had come to her thanks to her familiarity with the show “Law & Order: SVU.” And it paid off — when Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrested the suspect hours later, his skin was still dyed blue.
“The victim at the time of the attempted abduction was playing with blue slime,” Sheriff Chip Simmons said. “The suspect, when we caught him, had blue slime all over his own arms.”
Jared Stanga, 30, has been charged with attempted kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery. He has a criminal history, including sexual offenses with a child.
Stanga is currently being held on over a $1.5 million bond.
“I just feel proud of myself,” Alyssa said.
According to the Pensacola News Journal, that morning may not have been the first time Alyssa saw the suspect. About two weeks prior, she reported an unsettling incident when a man got out of a white car and approached her when she was on her way to school.
She did what she should have done: ran, got on the bus at another stop, and then told her teacher, her principal, and when she got home, her mother.
After that, Alyssa’s mom Amber walked her to the bus stop to make sure she was safe. Tuesday was the first day she didn’t walk with her.
“We were running late,” Amber said. “She usually leaves for the bus stop at 6:50, and it was 6:52. I told her to go ahead and I would be out there in a minute, I start changing the baby’s diaper.
“I hadn’t even finished changing the diaper before she ran back in the house. Her hair was all messed up, she had slime everywhere and I asked her what was going on. I thought maybe she had been hit by a car, but I never would have thought somebody would have tried to take her.”
Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson on “Law & Order: SVU,” posted on Instagram to recognize the girl’s bravery and commend her quick action.
“Alyssa, first and most important, I am so relieved and grateful to know that you are safe,” she posted on Thursday. “And I am so honored to be part of your incredible story. You are one BRAVE, Strong and Smart young woman. I think the SVU squad might have to add slime to their crimefighting gear!
“Take good care of yourself and each other. With all my love, your number one fan, Mariska.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
