Commerce Police are investigating a report of an attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl near the 1200 block of Live Oak Street on Sept. 23.
According to police, the suspect pulled alongside the female victim, opened the door and attempted to lure the child into his car. The suspect followed the victim for two blocks, but left when the victim refused to get in.
“There were no arrests made, but we have received a few tips and investigators are following those to try and identify the suspect,” Police Chief Kerry Crews said.
The suspect was described as an African-American male, mid-20s, short, “scraggly” hair, wearing a black T-shirt. The suspect’s vehicle was described as a dark-blue or black small two-door car with clean interior and stock rims.
According to Crews, a similar incident occurred three-and-a-half years ago involving a 6-year-old girl at Eddie Moore Sports Complex, behind Commerce Elementary School.
“We were able to get a very good description of the suspect from the little girl and subsequently were able to get a forensic artist to do a composite of the suspect,” Crews said. “She gave a good enough description of the suspect for the artist to get a composite that some of our officers were able to identify him before it was posted to the public.”
“We are hoping that the victim in this case can do the same thing,” he said. “The composite helps a lot.”
Anyone with information about the incident can contact Hunt County Crime Stoppers at 903-455-2929 or Commerce Police Detective Steve Scott at 903-886-1139.