Area Police, FBI Investigate Alleged Kidnapping

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

by KYW's Ian Bush, Hadas Kuznits, and Mark Abrams

The search continued on Wednesday for a Bucks County woman and her daughter who were allegedly abducted on Tuesday afternoon following a rear-end crash at one of the busiest intersections in the county, even as police attempted to unravel apparent inconsistencies in the case.

FBI agents and Bucks County detectives were going over Bonnie Sweeten's silver SUV, found abandoned Wednesday morning in center city Philadelphia.  Authorities say there is no sign of the 38-year-old woman or her nine-year-old daughter, Julia Rakoczy of Feasterville.

Investigators say the pair were allegedly kidnapped by two men after their vehicle was rear-ended by another along Street Road, near Second Street Pike.

Police say the woman used her cell phone to make a 911 call and told Philadelphia dispatchers on Tuesday afternoon that she was trapped in the trunk of a black Cadillac and her daughter was still in the SUV.
 
FBI agent JJ Klaver:

"We don't know where they are. I mean, that's why we're looking for any public assistance, anybody who might have any information that's relevant to this."

The fender-bender happened a little before 2pm on Tuesday, at Street Road and Second Street Pike in Upper Southampton Township.

Sweeten's cell phone signal was lost in the area of the 200 block of South 12th Street in center city Philadelphia -- more than 20 miles away from the scene of the reported accident. 

Police found Sweeten's 2005 GMC Yukon Denali about 1:30am Wednesday morning in the 1500 block of Chestnut Street, in center city, and officials say it had received a parking ticket sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Klaver admits there are many unanswered questions:

"We're less concerned now with the inconsistencies than with finding them and returning them safely to their families. That's our number one goal."
  
An "Amber Alert" was activated for Rakoczy, and Klaver says interviews about the case were underway:

"We've been in contact with a lot of people.  I believe that she's estranged from her husband, so we are talking to a lot of different people to try and get as much information as we can about where she and her daughter may be."

Authorities on Wednesday morning were hoping they might be able to locate a building in the 1500 block of Chestnut Street with a security camera that might have captured images of the vehicle being parked.

Police found a black Cadillac on Tuesday with front-end damage, but it was not immediately clear if the car was the '90s-model black Cadillac involved in the initial accident. 


Stay tuned to KYW Newsradio 1060 for the latest on this developing news story.