Missing Girl Found In Arizona; Man Charged With Kidnapping

Thu., Dec. 5, 1996

Associated Press

A 17-year-old girl missing for nearly a month has been found safe at a motel in Williams, Ariz., along with her alleged abductor, federal authorities say.

Sarim Islam was taken to an Arizona hospital for a precautionary examination after she was found Tuesday, but was later released. Her parents traveled to Arizona to bring her home, said Burdena Pasenelli, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office.

Williams is about 25 miles west of Flagstaff on Interstate 40 in northern Arizona.

Vinesh Kumar, 22, was charged Tuesday with kidnapping in federal district court in Seattle. Kumar will be returned here from Arizona to face trial, the FBI said.

Islam disappeared Nov. 8 after her father dropped her off at South Seattle Community College, where she attends classes. Police began a search for her, then learned over the Thanksgiving weekend that Kumar and his car also had not been seen since Nov. 8.

FBI spokesman Dick Thurston said he did not know how long the two were in Williams, nor where they were heading.

Islam and Kumar were romantically involved several years ago, police said. They broke up in 1994 because of parental pressure and cultural differences. Islam is a U.S. citizen from Bangladesh and Kumar is a noncitizen resident with a Hindu background.

Court documents filed against Kumar said Islam had told friends recently that Kumar had been bothering her, and that he had promised that if she didn’t marry him, he would take her away until she changed her mind.

Kumar is a registered sex offender who spent four months in the King County Jail in early 1995 on a conviction for second-degree assault with sexual motivation. He was accused of making aggressive advances to a woman who repeatedly rejected him until he finally relented and left the premises.

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