Gilroy
– Police arrested the man suspected of kidnapping a 16-year-old
girl Sunday and attempting to kidnap another woman Saturday.
Ebony Carter, the missing girl, still could not be found at
press time. She went into hiding, apparently afraid for her safety,
police said.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Police arrested the man suspected of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl Sunday and attempting to kidnap another woman Saturday.
Ebony Carter, the missing girl, still could not be found at press time. She went into hiding, apparently afraid for her safety, police said.
About midnight Wednesday, Carter called her sister from her cell phone. Her sister connected the Gilroy Police Department to the call and Carter told police she had been kidnapped, and provided them with the name of her alleged kidnapper.
Police investigators tracked the suspect, Benjamin Teutsch, 29, to an address on Conway Street in Milpitas, where he was arrested about 5 Thursday morning by Milpitas police without incident.
While talking with police, Carter said she was hiding, and would remain there until Teutsch was in custody. She did not say where she was.
“She says she is safe,” GPD Sgt. Kurt Svardal told reporters at an afternoon press conference in front of the department. “She says she was kidnapped. She has not come forward at this time.
“We want (Ebony) to know that we have the person in custody, and we want her to come forward,” Svardal said. “We’re going to continue looking for her until we have her.”
Teutsch is on probation for assaulting police officers – a felony conviction, and a violent crime – according to South County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba.
Svardal could not say how police were able to obtain Teutsch’s address. The residence apparently is his grandmother’s home, but whether or not the suspect lives there is unclear. Svardal did not know whether the man was employed.
In the house police found a blue sweatshirt, matching the one Teutsch was wearing in a photograph taken this weekend and released Wednesday.
Teutsch’s white cargo van that may have been used in the kidnapping was brought to the GPD and searched for evidence.
It was unclear at press time whether police found any evidence that Carter had been inside either the van or the Milpitas house.
Carter has been missing since Sunday afternoon, when her family dropped her off at the Greyhound bus depot at 7250 Monterey St. just after 2pm. Carter was on her way to the San Mateo County group home where she lived. Later that night, the home reported she never made it back.
Police began treating Carter’s disappearance as a kidnaping Tuesday, after Carter called her group home to say she was being held against her will. Police called her back and in a brief conversation, she repeated her earlier statements.
Family members told police Teutsch wanted some sort of relationship with Carter, but that she was not interested, Svardal said. They were able to identify him from the surveillance camera photograph, but call him only an “acquaintance,” according to Svardal.
Teutsch could be charged with three counts of kidnapping, Carrubba said, because he is suspected in another attempted kidnapping Saturday, and a separate attempt involving Carter on Sunday, before she went missing.
On Saturday, a woman who is physically similar to Carter was nearly forced into an older-model, white cargo van outside McDonald’s on First Street and Wren Avenue. The alleged victim identified Teutsch from the surveillance photo. She was able to escape, but any “movement of their body against their will” is legally considered a kidnapping, Carrubba said.
On Sunday, Teutsch tried to abduct Carter on the 700 block of El Cerrito Way about 1:30pm, her family told police.
The case likely will go to the DA’s office today, Carrubba said, at which time charges will be determined. Teutsch faces up to eight years in prison for each kidnapping charge, with additional charges possible, Carrubba said.
The victim in Saturday’s abduction attempt identified Teutsch from a photograph taken from a surveillance videotape at Franco’s Imports, located across the street from the Caltrain and Greyhound depot. Teutsch apparently was in the store at about 3pm Sunday, when he asked for directions to Santa Cruz, Svardal said.
Police do not know why he was asking for directions to Santa Cruz and do not have evidence indicating Carter is there, but police in that area have been contacted and given a copy of Teutsch’s picture, Svardal said.
“We’re going to continue looking for her until we have her,” he said.
Gilroy police are continuing to treat the case as a kidnapping. Even if Carter at first went willingly, if she later changed her mind, Teutsch still could be charged with kidnapping or false imprisonment, Carrubba said.
“Right now, there’s no reason to believe she is lying to us,” Svardal said. “My guess is she’s probably scared.”
