DETROIT (WXYZ) — A call for “help” on the evening of Wednesday, June 30th, 2021, led police to a 5-year-old girl who they say was kidnapped.
“I don’t want to think of what could’ve happened. I don’t want to go there. They saved this girl's life,” says Detective James Kraszewski with Detroit Police Department.
He’s referring to the citizens who acted and called 911 when they noticed a child yelling and banging on the window of a home on Shaefer Highway.
“Helping them (police) is like helping ourselves. Sometimes they need help too,” said Raynell Jones.
She heard the child she used to babysit sometimes screaming.
When police arrived to the scene, they found the girl on an upstairs level of a duplex home. Kraszewski says her neighbor, a 29-year-old man abducted her. They believe she was taken from her home for several days.
DPD shared bodycam video with 7 Action News moments after the rescue.
“As soon as she saw us, she jumped up, she jumped in offers arms and said I want to be the police when I grow up,” adds Detective Kraszewski.
He says the girl rescue couldn’t have been done without neighbors like Alfando Hendricks stepping up.
“I said baby I can't get in there because I tried to pull the door,” Hendricks added.
When he couldn’t get the door opened he walked across the street and called the police.
“If people were to get involved with other cases from Patrick Collins or Monica Wilson these cases would get solved,” he adds.
Neighbors tell us this little girl was a breath of fresh air.
Right now police are working to find out who killed the person found in the home next door - the home the 5-year-old lived in.
Police say this is still an active investigation.
