Chilling black and white surveillance footage showing 16-year-old Karol Sanchez being snatched right off the street, in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx, NY, went viral on Twitter yesterday.
The grainy video shows the girl strolling down the sidewalk with her mother when suddenly a van pulls up alongside and two men jump out and quickly force the girl inside the vehicle.
New York City police chief, Fausto Pichardo, tweeted “Have you seen Karol Sanchez?” early Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred late Monday night around 11:20 p.m. A neighbor reported hearing screaming and wailing that sounded like it was ‘out of a horror movie’.
“She was hysterical, she didn’t know what to do,” neighbor, Breanna Faulkner, told BuzzFeed.
“She didn’t want to leave that spot.”
It took authorities 12 hours after her disappearance to issue an amber alert for Sanchez…and just hours later she reemerged.
CBS New York reported that Sanchez showed up to the spot on Eagle Avenue where she was taken and turned herself in to police.
A nearby witness said “She was shaken up. She was bending over, grabbing her knees, and discussing with the police. And that’s when they took her into the parking garage for questioning.”
Shortly after, the NYPD tweeted “UPDATE Karol Sanchez has been located in the Bronx, she is safe and unharmed. Great work by the @NYPDnews and all of our federal partners. Thank you to everyone in the community for your assistance.”
According to the New York Times, Sanchez admitted to police at the 40th precinct station that her disappearance was all staged. But why??
Neither police or Sanchez has come forward with an official statement yet but there’s belief that Sanchez pulled this off for reasons related to her home life.
The New York Times reported that apparently, the family had been ‘contemplating a move to their native Honduras’ and Sanchez was adamant about staying in the U.S.
There was also speculation that Sanchez and her mother had a strained relationship. However, family and friends questioned by The New York Times said otherwise.
“She’s always with her mother. They are very close. She is always around us, her family.” Sanchez’s aunt Idalmy Martinez said.
Police are still determining whether or not to prosecute Sanchez for the hoax.
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