Man Charged With Kidnapping Girl In Ford Heights
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A south suburban park district commissioner has been charged with kidnapping a 9-year-old girl.
The girl was found in Charles Howard's back yard in Ford Heights late Saturday night.
Cook County Sheriff's police said Howard, 56, lured the girl and three other children to his home by allowing them to play with a pair of 3-D goggles. When the other three children left, the 9-year-old girl stayed behind, police said.
About a half hour later, the children went back to find their friend, and confronted Howard, but he denied having any knowledge of her whereabouts.
Her friends kept searching for the girl, and found her sleeping in a lawn chair in Howard's yard. She had been covered with another chair, and a lawnmower was positioned over her legs so that she couldn't easily be seen. Twelve-year-old Jakarri Foster, one of the boys who found the girl, said she was tied up and asleep.
"He lied the first time he said she wasn't here," said 14-year-old Juan Willingham. "What you mean she ain't here, and she in the back yard?"
Police said Howard wasn't happy when the kids again returned to confront him about what happened.
"We grabbed her, and took off running, and that's when he came outside. He cocked his gun back, aimed at us with his dog," Willingham said.
Foster said Howard chased them all the way to the girl's house. Her parents believe the boys might have saved their daughter from something terrible.
"They could have given their life, because this man's chasing them with a gun, but they was brave, and they brung my baby home," Tasha Woodson said.
Howard has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. His bail was set at $500,000 at a bond hearing Tuesday at the Markham courthouse.
