Gilroy
– The 16-year-old girl who claimed she was kidnapped in Gilroy a
month ago was found by Oakland police Sunday, after two weeks of no
contact with her family or Gilroy police investigators.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – The 16-year-old girl who claimed she was kidnapped in Gilroy a month ago was found by Oakland police Sunday, after two weeks of no contact with her family or Gilroy police investigators.
Based on the inconsistent stories Ebony Carter has since given police, she could be facing charges of filing a false police report. The story of her Nov. 14 kidnapping was published throughout the Bay Area, while police worked with numerous other agencies and even attempted to issue an Amber Alert to aid in her rescue.
Oakland police found Carter during a traffic stop for a vehicle code violation, Sgt. Kurt Svardal said.
“They of course ran the people in the car and found that she was reported as kidnapped,” he said.
Police turned Carter over to juvenile authorities in San Mateo County, where she had been living under supervision in a group home.
Gilroy police interviewed her there Monday, when she gave them statements that conflicted with what she’d previously said during two phone calls with police.
“During the interview, she provided several versions of events for what occurred during her disappearance,” Svardal said. “None of these versions match the statements she provided during cell phone contacts.”
Some of her stories place her in Oakland and various other Bay Area locations since her disappearance, he said.
“At this point, it looks like she is a little less than truthful,” Detective Dan Zen said.
Detectives are following up on Carter’s accounts of the past month.
Meanwhile, the Gilroy Police Department has referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office because of her conflicting statements that indicate her reports could be false.
“If the DA’s office gets the report and thinks the whole thing is a hoax, they could choose to file charges,” Svardal said.
Before Sunday, Carter hadn’t been heard from in nearly a month. She disappeared from the bus station on Monterey Street the afternoon of Nov. 14, after her family dropped her off to catch a bus back to her group home.
Two days later, she spoke with a counselor at the home and with Gilroy police, saying she had been kidnapped and was being held against her will.
The next day, Nov. 17, she contacted her sister and again spoke with police, identifying her alleged kidnapper as 29-year-old Benjamin Teutsch. She said she was in hiding and would emerge after Teutsch’s arrest, which occurred the next morning.
But Carter never emerged, and neither police nor her family had spoken with her since.
Teutsch is charged in another kidnapping, which occurred the night before Carter went missing. Police say he attempted to abduct a 40-year-old woman leaving the McDonald’s on First Street, who matched Carter’s description.
“That first case is a very legitimate case,” Svardal said.
Teutsch, who was on probation on unrelated charges, remains in custody, he said.
Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba, who was out of the office Tuesday, previously said Teutsch could face three kidnapping counts: The one he now faces, Carter’s alleged kidnapping, and a previous kidnap attempt Carter said occurred the night of Nov. 13.
Carter and Teutsch were acquainted, according to Gilroy police, and Carter’s family said the man wanted to have some sort of relationship with her. According to the family, Carter wasn’t interested in a relationship.
Ebony’s events
Nov. 13 – A man tries to kidnap a 40-year-old woman in the parking lot of McDonald’s at First Street and Wren Avenue
Nov. 14 – Ebony Carter tells her family a man she is acquainted with tried to kidnap her on the 700 block of El Cerrito Way
– Carter fails to return to her San Mateo group home, after family dropped her off at the bus station in Gilroy
Nov. 16 – Police contact Carter on her cell phone, and she says she is being held against her will
Nov. 17 – Police release a photograph of the suspected kidnapper, taken Nov. 14 from the surveillance camera at a store near the bus station
– Carter again spoke to police, identifying her kidnapper and saying she will stay in hiding until his arrest
Nov. 18 – Benjamin Teutsch, 29, Carter’s alleged kidnapper, is arrested at his grandmother’s Milpitas home, but she remains missing
Nov. 22 – Teutsch is arraigned on a kidnapping charge, stemming from the Nov. 13 incident
Dec. 12 – Carter is found by Oakland police during a traffic stop, and turned over to San Mateo County juvenile authorities
Dec. 13 – Carter is interviewed by Gilroy police, and gives conflicting accounts of her whereabouts during the previous month
