ABDUCTION / Unidentified Teen Girl - Fredericksburg MD

An Amber Alert was issued Saturday in connection with what seemed to be
an abduction of a female teenager from a shopping center in Stafford
County, an event that was captured on a startling surveillance tape.


The video shows three people struggling to force the apparent victim
into a sport-utility vehicle at about 11:25 a.m., just outside a store
in the shopping center.

The victim "was fighting and screaming that she did not want to go" and
tried to get out of the van as it drove off, the county sheriff's office
said.

At one point in the video, which was posted on the YouTube site, a woman
with a shopping bag walks toward the struggling group, then seems to
shift her path slightly to avoid them.

Authorities said witnesses quickly alerted them to the apparent
abduction.

The Amber Alert said the apparent abduction victim, a 17-year-old
African American girl, was taken by a man and two women, who may be in a
green 1998 Dodge Caravan with a Rhode Island license tag of 984610.

The alert, issued for children believed to be in danger, described the
apparent victim as 5-feet-7, about 140 pounds with brown eyes.

She was not identified, and her age was estimated.

The shopping center is northwest of Fredericksburg, just west of
Interstate 95. Persons with information about the incident are asked to
contact the sheriff's office at 540-659-2020 or the state police at
800-822-4453.

In the surveillance tape, a van is seen driving from the parking lot
onto the roadway in front of the store. The van turns right and stops.
Seconds later, the apparent victim walks along the same route. The male
driver gets out and comes around the side of the van. The teenager veers
away, but a woman who has apparently been following the teen on foot
helps the man grab her.

UPDATE:The 17-year-old girl who was reportedly abducted in
Stafford County yesterday was located safe in Florida this morning.
The green van, and the four people involved, were located by the
Jacksonville Police Department at 12:20 a.m. today, said Stafford County
Sheriff's Office spokesman Bill Kennedy in a written statement.
Information obtained by Jacksonville authorities indicated that the
family had stopped in Stafford County on the way to a move in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., and apparently the teen did not want to move and had
to be forced back into the van by family members in order to continue
the trip.
A nationwide Amber Alert had been issued on behalf of the teen in the
belief that she had been abducted in Stafford.
The Commonwealth Attorney in Stafford will meet with the Stafford County
Sheriff's office to determine if any charges will be filed, Kennedy
said.
The case is still under investigation.