Girl Admits Lying About Her Kidnapping

Sun., June 18, 2000

From Staff Reports

A 17-year-old girl who told her parents and Spokane police she had been abducted and held prisoner for four days in the basement of a house eventually admitted her story was a hoax, police said.

The girl said she had been forced into a car the night of June 10, but neither her hands nor feet were tied. She said she was released by the stranger Wednesday, and she called her father on her cell phone, said Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam.

Police questioned the girl and asked her to take a rape kit test at an area hospital. She refused and said she had not been molested during the abduction. A physician said she showed no signs of dehydration or food deprivation, Cottam said.

Police interviewed the girl’s boyfriend, who said they had spent the four days together and said she was not held against her will. The girl then admitted that the entire story was fabricated, Cottam said.

Police arrested her on charges of obstructing an officer - for wasting the time of the officers who had searched for her. Two officers spent more than seven hours each investigating the case. The girl was released to the custody of her parents and the case will be turned over to the prosecutor’s office.

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