It was just after 1am on Sunday, nearly five hours into the search, when officer Chris Poccia spotted the young girl sitting alone on the ground in another parking lot in the city.
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The Albuquerque Police Department believes the man caught in this surveillance footage is a suspect who allegedly stole a auto that had a three-year-old in the backseat on January 2, 2015.
DeAguero said police located the auto Leon-Alcocar had been taken in at the Savers parking lot at Menaul and Carlisle early Saturday night, but she was no longer inside.
Police and volunteers launched a frantic search after the auto was found abandoned and the girl was not inside.
A little girl found safe and unharmed, despite enduring frigid temperatures in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after becoming the victim of a carjacking.
The APD officer who was first to spot Caraline Leon-Alcocar, and who comforted her with words repeated on national news broadcasts, was busy preparing for another line of duty Tuesday.
I was using my spotlight and I saw a ball of purple, in the middle of the parking lot and I thought that’s weird and I drove into the parking lot and I could tell it was a kiddo. He placed her in his auto and told her he had turned up the heat as far as it could go. “Right now everybody’s just overwhelmed that she’s fine”. He has short brown hair and was wearing a dark-colored jacket and blue jeans. Police are still looking for the vehicle thief.
Police weren’t able to find the girl until four hours later.
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“The way you ask the questions – the way you treat the interview with the kids has to be done in a very specific and cautious way to make sure that the information they’re giving – especially with a 3-year-old – is accurate information”, APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said.
