Boy, 8, slept through his brief kidnapping
FAIRFIELD ( AP) — An 8- year- old boy snoozing in the backseat of his family’s running car appears to have slept through his brief kidnapping Monday after the vehicle was stolen in front of his home, police said.
Brock Guzman was found safe about 2 miles away in the abandoned car following an hourslong search. A thief likely happened upon the 2001 Toyota Corolla when the boy’s father left it briefly unattended, police said.
The father had placed the sleeping boy in the Corolla around 4: 45 a. m., started the engine and went back into the house in Fairfield to get some belongings and his older son, who attends school 40 miles away in Napa.
When the father went back outside, the car was gone and an unfamiliar bicycle lay nearby. He hopped into another family vehicle and sped off in search of the Corolla. The boy’s mother frantically called 911, and authorities issued an Amber Alert.
Less than four hours later, a resident called police and said the car was parked in the neighborhood. Brock Guzman, 8, was snoozing in the backseat of his family's running car when it was stolen in front of his home, police said. When officers approached it around 8: 15 a. m., the suspect was gone and Brock was still asleep. He was not injured.
“We don’t for sure if he slept through the whole thing, but it looks that way,” Fairfield police OfficerKathryn McCormick said. “We hope that was the case.”
Police don’t have a description of the suspect and say it appears the thief didn’t know the child was sleeping in the backseat.
“At this point, we are investigating this as a crime of opportunity,” McCormick said.