A family pet may have helped save a child from being abducted in Rifle last night. According to the Rifle Police Department, the child was walking a dog near Lion’s Pond when a male grabbed them by the arm. The dog bit the man’s hand, and the suspect left the area after being confronted by the child’s mother.
The suspect is described as a white male, 50 years old or older, with dirty gray and blond hair, a beard two to three inches in length, brown eyes, and yellow teeth. He was last seen wearing a white tee-shirt and shorts. The suspect was last seen driving east in the 1000 block of Airport Road in an older white panel van with front bumper damage on the passenger side. The mother and child were unable to provide a license plate number to officers.
Anyone who was at the Lion’s Pond Rest Area last night around 8:30, or who may have seen the suspect or his vehicle, is asked to call the Rifle Police Department at 970-665-6500.