All parties located safely after reported abduction in Cape Girardeau

All involved parties were located safely and released Tuesday morning after an abduction was reported at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann said a father and daughter were playing at the park, and the father had to carry his daughter to his truck when it was time to leave. According to Hann, a second parent could not find his own daughter as the vehicle prepared to depart from the park, and after hearing reports a young girl had just been carried away from the park, the second parent reported the vehicle and the abduction to police.

“As a parent, I understand you get that sense of panic, so I think maybe he was just overly cautious,” Hann said. “... He heard that somebody just stuffed a kid in a car, and he couldn’t find his kid so it terrified him — and rightly so.”

Officers immediately set up a perimeter around the city to make sure the vehicle did not leave police jurisdiction, according to Hann, and additional officers went to Capaha Park to speak to witnesses and locate the reporting party.

In the process of officers arriving at the park, Hann said a park patron alerted the reporting party the reportedly missing girl was still at the park playing with other children.

Cape Girardeau police patrolman Gabriel Yoder exchanges a handshake with a man who was reported as a suspect in a child abduction Tuesday in Cape Girardeau. The reported abduction was ultimately ruled to be unfounded, and the missing child was located at Capaha Park without incident.BEN MATTHEWS

Police stopped the reported suspect vehicle at West Park Mall and briefly placed the father in handcuffs as his daughter sat in the back seat of the vehicle.

“This gentleman here, he was very nice and he understood what we were doing and said he appreciated us doing our job, and being professional and friendly about it,” Hann said.

Shortly before 10 a.m., the man was released and exchanged handshakes with a few of the officers before leaving the mall parking lot.