Sometimes, things, especially certain good things, seem so unlikely that the human mind goes in search of some alternative explanation beyond the obvious.
That certainly seems to be true in the strange case of 16-year-old Karol Sanchez who was abducted by a group of men on Monday in the Bronx but, remarkably, turned up alive and well less than a day later in the same place.
Immediately, sources at the NYPD indicated, cops were scratching their heads and trying to figure out whether the incident was really a kidnapping at all.
Sanchez was shown in a harrowing black-and-white video being abducted, setting off a frenzy of police activity and garnering national attention. The incident at 745 Eagle Ave. in the Bronx was reported at around 11:30 p.m. Monday. The NYPD issued an amber alert and released the grainy footage on Tuesday morning around 10:40 a.m
However, later on Tuesday, the teenager was found in the Bronx safe and unharmed less than 18 hours after the apparent abduction.
The video depicts Sanchez walking with her mother. Several men in a beige sedan arrive and a struggle ensued. The girl’s mother attempted to fight back before being pushed to the ground. Sanchez was then forced into the car and it drove away.
Four men in total were believed to have been involved in what appeared to be a kidnapping, with two men in the car, police said earlier Tuesday.
Brendan Lyons, superintendent of Arlington Central School District, said Sanchez is a sophomore at the high school. He said his administration followed news of the student’s kidnapping hoping for a positive result.
“We are so relieved that she has been found safe and are ready to support her and her family when she returns to school,” said Lyons.
A “trembling” Sanchez approached a police car near Eagle Avenue and East 156th Street in Melrose around 2:15 p.m., and was escorted into the vehicle by cops, said two witnesses — who were looking at a missing poster for the teen when they saw her return.
Police sources said the teen’s mom was planning to relocate them back to her native Honduras over Karol’s objections, and that investigators were exploring whether that played into the disappearance.