Piedmont Teen Almost Abducted On Way Home, Police Searching For Suspect

A mothers warning is put to good use after a man in a van approaches her teenage son. The suspect tried to abduct the teen on the way back from sports camp early Monday morning. 

Susan Cosby told News 9 despite the fear she is proud of her son. He knew something was wrong and ran from the suspect. 

“As the young man walked past the entrance to Olde Town, the vehicle left, followed him, towards 164th, at one point the man said, ‘hey get in the van, your mother told me to come pick you up,’” said Scott Singer, the Chief Of Police for the Piedmont Police Department. 

“My son knew ‘Nope! My mom would have told me!’ And so he turned around and started to walk off. He saw the guy get out of the van and my son heard the door, turned around and saw him pull out a pocketknife,” said Susan Cosby, the mother of the victim. 

Thinking on his feet, she said her son made a split decision. 

“He ran and at that time he was pursued on foot. Fortunately, the suspect was not able to catch him,” said Singer. 

“He was screaming, ‘let me in, let me in let me in! I’m really scared,’” said Cosby. 

While running, the teenager slipped and hit his knee but made it home. 

“We’ve talked about it, and I said, ‘you don’t ever get in a van with anybody, in a car with anybody,’ you will know if someone is picking you up that is not me,” said the mother. 

He told police the suspect was driving a white or light gray passenger van. 

“This man is described as an older man, bald on the top of the head, side hair, a brown beard and. He had blue pants of some type and may have been armed with a knife,” said the Police Chief. 

“I’m so horrified. I honestly don’t feel like it has sunk in yet. I have hugged him a lot today and told him ‘Mom is going to keep hugging you,’ because it is terrifying. You think your kids are going to be safe in a small community, but you don’t know,” said the mother of the victim. 

Piedmont Public Schools will be increasing patrolling on and around campus. Police are investigating and ask anyone with information to contact them.