Tattoo may lead to suspect in Downtown Cincinnati parking garage abduction

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Police are stepping up patrols near downtown parking garages after a man kidnapped a woman in one Wednesday night and tried to abduct two others.

The incidents happened within 45 minutes of one another at a city-owned garage at Seventh and Sycamore streets.

Lt. Col. Vince Demasi said the suspect approached two women at separate times around 6:00 p.m., but they were able to get away from him.

"The first was not a physical confrontation -- more verbal. She was able to get away from him," said Lt. Col. Demasi. It was the same scenario 15 minutes later, just before the actual kidnapping.

Police said the suspect had a rock in his hand when he forced the third woman into her own car and ordered her to drive five miles to Dorothy Lane, a dead-end street in East Price Hill.

That's where the victim's self-defense mechanism kicked in and she refused to drive down the isolated road.
"She got to the point where she felt that if she did that she probably would be seriously harmed or killed," said Demasi. "She chose to fight at that point and put up a pretty violent struggle.

Liz Allen heard the commotion from her house a short distance away. She said the woman screamed, but at first thought it was just a boyfriend/girlfriend fight. That couldn't have been further from the truth.

"I saw this guy getting out of her van and she was holding on to his shirt and his head I couldn't see," Allen said. "He got loose and run through them bushes."
The suspect escaped with the woman's purse. She suffered only cuts and bruises.
He's described as...

* Male white in his 20s
* Average height and build
* Blue eyes
* Light colored hair -- possibly strawberry blonde -- short cut and spiked with gel
* Tattoo on the left side of his neck with a name starting with the letter "L"
* Last seen wearing a white t-shirt and blue jean shorts

Demasi said the events at Seventh and Sycamore streets are unfortunate and isolated and he hopes anyone who saw the suspect in the area will call CrimeStoppers at (513) 352-3040.

"It's not something that normally occurs in our downtown and I guess that's why we're very concerned about it," he said.

Extra police patrols have been added to insure citizen safety.

David Ginsburg, President of DCI, Downtown Cincinnati, Incorporated, said he agreed that the incidents were the exception and not the rule.

"Downtown is very, very safe," Ginsburg said.

However, he added there's no substitute for people being aware at all times of who is around them.

"If anything looks unusual you never hesitate to call 911," Ginsburg added.
Word of the crimes spread quickly among women working downtown.

"It's pretty scary. I don't like to go anywhere alone," said Ashlee Risher of Elsemere. "It just makes you watch people more because you don't k ow who might be out to start trouble."

West Chester resident Sabrina Calloway said she's not scared to walk around downtown or park downtown.

"I'm more aware of my surroundings when I hear the things that are going on," she said. "I just pay a bit more attention."