A 13-year-old girl was saved from kidnapping in the state of California, in the United States, after asking for help through a note. The child had been kidnapped on July 6, in the state of Texas, by Steven Robert Sablan, a 61-year-old man.
According to information released by the Associated Press, the child was found three days after the kidnapping. Trapped in the criminal’s car after suffering a series of rapes, the little girl took advantage of the period he was away to try to ask for help.
While the kidnapper had stopped at a laundromat, the kidnapped child wrote the phrase “help me” [“me ajude”, em inglês] on a small piece of paper (featured image) and put it on display on the car window.
People passing by saw the child’s ticket and called the police. When a police unit arrived at the address, they found the kidnapper next to the car and the child “visibly emotional and distressed”, according to a police statement this week.
Criminal threatened the child to get into his car
According to information from the police report, Steven threatened the child when he approached her saying that he “would hurt her” if she did not get in his car. The little girl was approached while walking the streets of San Antonio, Texas.
The little girl had left home without notifying her parents with the intention of visiting a friend who had moved to Australia and with whom she kept in touch over the internet. Upon entering the kidnapper’s car, the girl told the story to Steven who said he could take her to visit her friend.
From there, the abuse began. In the period when they moved from Texas to California, the little girl was raped several times. According to the FBI report, the little girl said that she even asked Steven to stop, but was afraid that he could hurt her.
The little girl found a place to ask for help when the abuser stopped at a laundromat in Long Beach, Southern California. Moments before, he’d made her change her clothes.
At the time of the arrest, a black plastic handgun and a pair of silver handcuffs were found in Steven’s car. The object, according to the police, should be used to “perform sexual fetishes”.
The girl is in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. In addition to kidnapping and rape, Steven has already been convicted of robbery with a lethal weapon in 1979, robbery with a lethal weapon and larceny in 1985 and possession of a controlled substance in 2016.
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