Grandfather Kidnapped, Held for Ransom

The Los Angeles Police Department Robbery and Homicide Division says this case has too many holes that need to be plugged up with clear answers.

At about 8:15 p.m., Tuesday, police say two armed men driving a green van pulled up the 1800 block of West 47th Street in the Vermont Square neighborhood of Southgate and kidnapped a 64-year-old man.  The man had been playing with his 12-year-old grand-daughter in the front yard of a home.

For the next four hours, the suspects held the man, calling his family every 15 minutes to make demands.  According to investigators, the first two phone calls didn't ask for anything specific but by the third and subsquent calls, the suspects started demanding cash - $100,000 - to release the man.

By 12:30 a.m., Wednesday, no money had been exchanged and the suspects dropped the man off in a McDonald's parking lot at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Long Beach Boulevard in Lynwood, about 12 miles from where they allegedly took him.

The man suffered a sprained ankle but was not taken to the hospital.  LAPD officers questioned him and his family but have been unable to come up with a suspect description.

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