A 19-year-old Tennessee man is accused of abducting a 7-year-old girl from her bed and carrying her away before returning to the victim’s home several weeks later, after the child managed to thwart the initial kidnapping.
Jeremiah Smith was arrested last week and charged with one count of especially aggravated kidnapping.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers from the Memphis Police Department responded to an apartment complex in the 3200 block of Johnson Avenue around 4:05 a.m. on Nov. 6 for a child abduction.
When first responders arrived, they spoke with the victim’s mother, who reported that her 7-year-old daughter had just come to her room and stated that “someone took her from her bed” and brought her outside. Fortunately, the child escaped her would-be kidnapper and returned home safely.
Officers then spoke with the victim, who described the ordeal in graphic detail.
“She advised that while she was in bed, an unknown Black male, thin build, with possibly curly type hair or hair style, [wearing a] dark colored hoodie, and black pants, entered her room and grabbed her, covering her mouth,” according to the court document.
“The victim then stated that she was carried to a basketball park in the apartment complex, where she was able to free herself from the suspect’s grasp.
She then stated that the suspect picked her up again before pushing her to the ground. The victim stated that she was eventually able to break free from the suspect’s grasp and run back home.
Investigators obtained surveillance footage of the incident, which confirmed the victim’s account of what occurred. The then-unknown suspect was wearing a brown hoodie and black pants when he attempted to take the child.
On November 24, the victim’s mother called police for the second time, reporting that the suspected kidnapper was outside her house around 5:40 a.m.
A surveillance camera caught the suspect as he returned to the same location, dressed in the same clothes, where he allegedly kidnapped the 7-year-old, before a knowledgeable neighbor intervened.
The surveillance camera belonged to Juan Cathey, a neighbor who told police that he first saw the suspect at “the rear door area of where the kidnapping had occurred” on November 6.
When Cathey saw the suspect, she went outside and confronted him about his business on the property. The suspect initially stated that his aunt lived next door to Cathey.
“Juan [Cathey] advised he told the individual ‘NO, your aunt does not stay there,'” the affidavit reads. “I asked Juan [Cathey] if he was sure. Juan [Cathey] informed me that he knows many of his neighbors and knows who lived at the address pointed to by the unidentified suspect.”
Cathey also stated that he attempted to engage the suspect in conversation and “lure” him closer to the security cameras, standing about five or six feet away and getting “a good look at his face.” Cathey was then able to identify Smith from a six-person lineup as the person who was at the victim’s house on November 24.
Smith is currently held in the Shelby County Jail on a $150,000 bond, according to records. He is set to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on January 15.
