Store worker helps foil kidnap

Store worker helps foil kidnap

PITTSBURG - Miss Roxanna Ramirez, 22, an employee of Target retail store in the Californian city of Pittsburg, helped rescue abducted seven-year-old Natalie Calvo's life when she wrote down the licence plate number of a "weird" man shopping at her store last week.

She became suspicious of David Douglas because he appeared extremely nervous in the store, New York Daily News reported.

"He was just fidgeting around and I wasn't getting a good vibe of him," she told ABC News.

After monitoring him "for some time", Miss Ramirez followed Douglas into the carpark and took down his car registration details.

He had parked his gold Toyota Camry next to her car, and, she told Contra Costa Times, "at one point, he sat in his car and grabbed the steering wheel and started shaking it violently".

Douglas later followed a mother and her daughter Natalie to their home, where he pulled the child into his car and drove off.

AMBER ALERT

Miss Ramirez went home after her shift.

Her friend was checking her Facebook account and mentioned that an Amber Alert had been issued. This is a US bulletin about a child abduction case broadcast on TV, radio and other forms of technology.

The friend read out the details, which included a description of the suspect and the car.

Miss Ramirez said: "I was, like, 'Hold on, this was the guy in the store. He looked like that and the car description was the same as well."

She called the police immediately. The licence plate number was used to identify Douglas and an officer found him with the unharmed girl after about 45 minutes. Douglas was arrested.

Said a police spokesman: "What she (Miss Ramirez) did was what truly cracked the case."

Detectives went to her house to congratulate her, waking her up. Miss Ramirez said: "That was when my heart started jumping and I felt great that I helped bring the little girl home."

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