Larry Jon Ladwig - Phoenix police pulled off a “Christmas miracle” when they rescued kidnapped 5-year old Natalie Flores and arrested Larry Jon Ladwig for molesting her.
Forty-five-year-old Larry Jon Ladwig was charged with kidnapping, sexual molestation of a child, aggravated assault of a police officer and felony flight.
Five-year old Natalie Flores was playing in a common area at the apartment complex with her two sisters, ages 7 and 9, on Christmas Day when a man parked his brown pickup in a nearby parking lot and walked over to them carrying a camera.
The man violently pulled down the 7-year-old’s pants, took a photo of her, then grabbed the 5-year-old and threw her into the truck through a window and drove off.
“There was no doubt in my mind,” Phoenix policeman Mike Burns told reporters Saturday, several hours after the little girl was rescued. “If he disappears, we may not get her back.”
Determined not to let the truck out of his sight, the patrolman set out on a Christmas night car chase through the streets of north Phoenix that ended after 10 minutes in the arrest of 45-year-old Larry Jon Ladwig.
The frightened girl was taken to a police facility that aids young victims of crime, where it was determined she had been molested.
Ladwig was booked into jail on charges of kidnapping, sexual molestation of a child, aggravated assault of a police officer and felony flight.
“We really did have a Christmas miracle,” he said.
The girl was rescued at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, more than seven hours after police allege that Ladwig kidnapped her while she was playing outside a Phoenix apartment building.
When Burns’ spotted Ladwig’s pickup, he alerted the force. Officers put spike strips across the road several blocks away that punctured Ladwig’s tires, causing him to crash on the roadside.
Ladwig took off on foot but was caught and arrested a block away after a brief struggle during which Hill said he punched an officer in the face.
And that’s the latest news on the arrest of Larry Jon Ladwig.
Tags: child abduction, kidnapping, larry jon ladwig, missing girl, natalie flores
December 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
what a piece of shit, I hope they rip him a new asshole in prison.