DAYTON — Dayton police are looking for the people responsible for making a series of prank kidnapping calls that had officers, neighbors and even entire schools concerned about missing children.
One of the calls sent police to Ruskin Elementary School, another to an address on South Harbine.
“The complainant’s eight years old and states that an unknown man suffocated her and put her in the trunk of a vehicle,” a dispatcher told officers responding to the address on South Harbine.
Brenda Ogden said officers were racing up and down her street. They stopped four different times to speak with her.
“They were just going up and down the street here,” Ogden told News Center 7’s Mike Campbell.
>> Young man shot in life-threatening condition, Dayton police say
The Harbine address ended up not even existing and police did not find anything matching what was described in the call to 911.
The report also prompted Facebook posts causing even more concern.
A police reports says more than a dozen officers spent an hour in the area.
The address they had didn’t exist.
Then, at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday another call sent police to Ruskin Elementary, where they learned that no one called for help and there was no one missing or kidnapped.
Finally, around 6 p.m., a third call reporting a kidnapping on North Garland came in. Officers discovered it was again a false address and again, there was no kidnapped child.
“It wastes time. They searched for hours for somebody who really doesn’t need to be helped, so please stop wasting police time,” Dayton resident Rachel Fritz said.
Police said one of the calls appeared to be made from Miamisburg, but when they checked that area they were not able to find anything and they are still searching for the source of the calls.
Dispatchers said in each case it appears the caller was older and tried to sound like a child.
News Center 7 has requested copies of those calls, but has not yet received them.
Police said once they track down who made the calls they intend to make arrests and pursue charges.