Gilroy
– A teenage girl remained missing Friday afternoon, nearly two
days after her alleged kidnapper’s arrest, and police have few
clues to her whereabouts.
Ebony Carter, 16, who police believe was kidnapped in Gilroy
Sunday, apparently remains in hiding despite widely published
reports of the arrest.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A teenage girl remained missing Friday afternoon, nearly two days after her alleged kidnapper’s arrest, and police have few clues to her whereabouts.
Ebony Carter, 16, who police believe was kidnapped in Gilroy Sunday, apparently remains in hiding despite widely published reports of the arrest.
“She has not had contact with us, she has not had any contact with her family,” Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Svardal said. “We are still trying to track her down any way we can. We’re doing everything we possibly can to locate her.”
Benjamin Teutsch, 29, the man Carter identified as her kidnapper, was arrested in Milpitas early Thursday morning, but Carter was not at the Conway Street house where he was found.
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 kidnapping Tuesday, after the teenager called her group home from her cell phone to say she was being held against her will. Police called her back and in a brief conversation, she repeated her earlier statements.
Carter made another call, this time to her sister, at about midnight Wednesday. After her sister connected the call to police, Carter provided Teutsch’s name and said she would hide in a safe place until the man was arrested.
Svardal would not say whether or not Teutsch was cooperating with the investigation.
“We’re not supposed to release any statements whatsoever, at the request of the (District Attorney’s) office, because that could prejudice the jury pool,” he said.
Teutsch also is believed to be the man who attempted to kidnap a woman matching Carter’s description Saturday outside McDonald’s on First Street and Wren Avenue. He could be charged with three counts of kidnapping because he also tried to abduct Carter before she went missing Sunday, according to South County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba.
Teutsch is being held in county jail for violating probation, stemming from a felony arrest for assaulting police officers.
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 a surveillance camera photograph taken Sunday, but call him only an “acquaintance,” according to Svardal.
Until Thursday, Teutsch was known to police and Carter’s family only as “Bennyama,” which police said could have been a nickname based on the way some pronounce “Benjamin.”
Carter is black, 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 300 pounds, with brown eyes and curly, shoulder-length black hair.
Anyone with information may contact the Gilroy Police Department at 846-0350.
