7-year-old Puyallup girl assaulted; teen arrested
Jul 11, 2013, 5:41 AM | Updated: 12:02 pm
Police say a 7-year-old girl was lured into the woods near a Puyallup apartment complex and sexually assaulted.
Capt. Dalan Brokaw says a 14-year-old neighbor boy has been arrested as the suspect.
According to police, the girls parents noticed she was missing around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. They organized a search group of friends and neighbors and scoured the Glenbrooke apartment complex on the 700 block of 43rd Avenue SE.
“It’s a large area to search. It’s a big apartment complex and there’s some wooded areas and a detention pond near the complex,” described Puyallup Chief of Police Bryan Jeter.
One of the informal searchers found a child’s shoe near the edge of a wooded trail. Officers brought in a dog that tracked the girl into a wooded area where she was found around midnight.
Brokaw says she had been strangled and was unable to walk. The girl was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma in serious condition and is expected to survive.
The girl gave police the name of her assailant, a 14-year-old boy, which was enough information to arrest the teen before 5:00 a.m. Thursday.
Brokaw says the girl was lured away from other children playing outside with a story about finding an injured animal in the woods.
The Associated Press and MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.
