On Monday afternoon, a missing 4-year-old girl was found when an alert security guard in Memphis, Tennessee spotted the stolen car mentioned in the multi-state Amber Alert.
The accused abductor was arrested, and the young girl, Rebecca Lewis, was found safe and uninjured.
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“West Wild Hogs is in the pen,” Sheriff Judd of Polk County said in reference to the kidnapping of Lewis. “The Memphis Police Department has him under arrest.”
More than 48 hours ago, the 4-year-old vanished from her home in Lakeland, Florida. At about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, Rebecca’s 16-year-old sister saw her sleeping in her bed. Shortly thereafter at 9:45 a.m., the sister woke up and Rebecca was not there.
Before calling the police to notify them of their missing child, Rebecca’s parents searched the surrounding area for over an hour. Later that afternoon, an Amber Alert was issued for Rebecca.
Shortly after the abduction, Hogs was spotted with Rebecca inside a Lakeland McDonald’s. They later resurfaced on surveillance footage at a BP gas station on Forsyth, Georgia.
Late on Sunday night, the investigators on the case determined that a park ranger in Tennessee made contact with the man and child matching the description of Lewis and Hogs. The ranger had not received any information regarding the Amber Alert prior to allowing the pair to leave.
However, on Monday, a security guard in Memphis at the Baptist East Hospital called the police after spotting the silver Nissan Versa.
“Within minutes, the Memphis Police Department arrived, took West Wild Hogs into custody, and rescued Rebecca,” Judd explained.
Hogs is expected to appear in a Tennesee court before being extradited back to Florida. Polk County detectives and FDLE agents are heading to Memphis to talk to him, and the kidnapper will likely face either state or federal charges, according to Fox13.
The 31-year-old abductor, West Wild Hogs, changed his name from Matthew Clark Pybus. While there was no clear motive for the kidnapping, the man has been described as a friend of the family. Before kidnapping Rebecca, Hogs had not seen her in years.
“Our baby’s coming home,” Rebecca’s grandmother said through tears after hearing the news.
“I just want to go get my daughter,” Luther Lewis said after he thanked the deputies. “I’ll probably never let her go.”
Thankfully Rebecca was unharmed.
We commend the Polk County police, the Memphis Police Department, and all the detectives on the case for their spectacular work.
[H/T Fox13]
