Suffern, N.Y. – Three teenagers were charged Tuesday with kidnapping a 13-year-old girl for cash, forcing her into the trunk of a car and later abandoning her in the vehicle about a mile away.
The girl, who wasn’t injured, told authorities she didn’t recognize her kidnappers, and officials said Tuesday it still wasn’t clear why she was targeted.
“Maybe they had the mistaken idea that this was a wealthy family,” said Detective Lt. Brad Weidel.
Charged in the kidnapping were Donald Siler, 19, of Spring Valley; his 14-year-old brother Jamahl; and Chantia Marshall, 18, also of Spring Valley. Donald Siler, who was on parole for robbery, and Marshall also were charged with robbery and grand larceny for stealing an unidentified item from the girl, Mara Downes, according to Weidel.
Though ransom was the object, the Downes family was never contacted, Weidel said. The kidnappers abandoned the car with Mara locked in the trunk “because the heat was on,” he said.
Mara was reported in good physical health after her rescue about 3 1/2 hours after she was abducted. She was still locked in the trunk when police found the car in Spring Valley, about a mile away.
An Amber Alert had been issued for the car, which had been stolen from a local gas station. It was found after someone who heard the description spotted it and called 911.
The family lives in a leafy neighborhood of private homes in Ramapo, in the suburbs just north of New York City. Mara had just arrived home from Sacred Heart School when she was snatched from her front lawn.
