A father came to the rescue of his five-year-old daughter after he saw her being carried away by a suspected kidnapper.
The assailant had entered the home in Salt Lake City, Utah, through an unlocked door in the early hours of yesterday morning and came across the girl sleeping in her bedroom in the basement.
He took her out of bed and carried her upstairs, making noises that woke the parents.
That’s when the girl’s father went to the door and saw the man carrying his daughter on the front lawn.
He ran outside and confronted the man, reportedly shouting: ‘What are you doing, that’s my daughter, you’re not taking her!’
The suspect then handed her over without confrontation and fled.
The girl’s distressed mother was heard descrbing what happened on a 911 call.
She said: ‘There was a man in my home and he took my five-year-old daughter.
‘And I happened to wake up and he had my daughter outside, and my husband ran out there and got him. But he took my five-year-old daughter.’
Troy Morley was later captured by police at another address after one of its dogs bit him.
He was arrested and booked on charges of child kidnapping, burglary, trespassing and resisting arrest.
Police Sgt. Dean Carriger said the family is doing pretty well considering what happened.
‘It obviously was a very scary, traumatic situation,’ he said.
‘The sanctity of our home is huge and for somebody to enter that and grab your child, it’s got to be one of the worst nightmares a parent could face. . . If those parents were not awakened to go out and investigate, he could have easily left undetected with the girl.’
