Fort Worth Police: Illegal immigrant kidnapped, raped 6-year-old
FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police say a man accused of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from her home also raped her before she was found.
Police are trying to determine how the girl ended up in the woods at the end of a park with a 35-year-old man. Police are investigating if the girl was kidnapped from her home where she slept on the couch or if she walked away from the house and was taken Saturday morning.
Police have been going through the woods near a creek at Titus Park where the girl was found Saturday afternoon, about a mile from the girl's home.
Police arrested Edis Moyà Alas. He's been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and aggravated kidnapping. He also has an immigration hold. Police say Alas is in the U.S. illegally from El Salvador.
The girl's mother didn't talk on camera but says Alas is a complete stranger to the family. Neighbors say they gathered with the family outside the home and prayed with them moments before the girl was found.
"We were praying right there when police came to us and say she is okay," a relative said. "When we heard that, we say thanks to God."
Police say the child was found after someone called police after they heard a child screaming coming from the woods next to Titus Park. Police say they called out to the girl, and she came running to them.
Alas was also in the woods. Police say he surrendered after he was surrounded by police. Police say he lived in the girl's neighborhood when he was arrested on a drug charge two years ago.
Other officers have gone door to door to talk to people about what they might have seen or to determine if there may be other victims.
Alas is being held in the Mansfield jail on a $200,000 bond.