Kidnapping Update ~ 12.31.2009
Suspect in Molly's Pub Kidnapping
At approximately 11:05 AM on the morning of December 24, 2009, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office regarding a female that had been found on the side of IH-45 frontage road near the Hardy Toll Road just inside Harris County.
The information received indicated the female victim had been taken from the parking lot of Molly’s Pub, located at 24905 IH-45 in South Montgomery County. The initial investigation revealed that after 2:00 AM on December 24, 2009, the female victim was leaving the location and after getting into her vehicle, a male suspect forced his way into her vehicle, and assaulted her by placing his hands around her neck and choking her until she blacked out.
The female victim was taken to the IH-45 frontage road area where she was dragged from the vehicle and into the weeds where she was again choked until she blacked out. When she woke up she found herself in the weeds, and could hear passing vehicles. She crawled to the sound of those passing vehicles where she was spotted which resulted in the police being alerted.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Persons Crimes Detectives have initiated an ongoing investigation and have obtained a Forensic Artist Sketch of the suspect which is attached to this update. If you recognize this suspect or have any information regarding this investigation, you are urged to contact Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-STOP or Detective Melanie Wood at (281) 297-6519.
Authority:
Lieutenant Ralph Smith
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Original Press Release
Kidnapping
South Montgomery County
At approximately 11:05 AM this morning, December 24, 2009, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office regarding a female that was found on the side of IH-45 just inside Harris County at approximately 10:30 AM. The information received indicated the female/victim had been dropped off on the side of IH-45 after she was taken from the parking lot of Molly’s Pub, located in the South Montgomery County area. The initial investigation revealed that at approximately 2:00 AM, the female victim was leaving the location and as she was getting into her vehicle, a male suspect came up behind her and forced her into her vehicle. The suspect then assaulted the victim by placing his hands around her neck causing her to blackout.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Persons Crimes Detectives have initiated an ongoing investigation into this incident.
Sgt. Melvin Franklin
I know this is a terrible tragedy and I hope the guy is caught. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for him. However, spell check is no replacement for editing. A chock is a block of wood…I’m guessing the guy was not putting a block of wood up to stop her. I assume you meant choking. I know I sound like a stickler, and I make my own mistakes. I’m also not writing a column that many people will read and that represents a newspaper. It makes the article seem less credible and legitimate. People have gotten way too lazy these days, I hope this isn’t a sign of imminent decline when I see it in a newspaper…not once, but twice (chocking and chocked). You may want to give a gentle speech to the author of this particular article on the necessity of proof reading documents.
Hiya Allison
Thanks for pointing out the improper use of the word chock. It has been corrected in the above version.
However, as is stated in the title, this is a press release directly from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). It is not an article as you refer to it.
Typically we do not change any items in a press release, however if we would have noticed this error it would have been corrected.
Since this is a MCSO press release, the author is an individual in the MCSO. I am forwarding your complaint as well as your suggestion for a “gentle speech to the author of this particular article on the necessity of proof reading documents” to the PIO for the MCSO.
Feel free to contact the MCSO PIO (Lt. Norris, daniel.norris at mctx.org) to discuss the possibility that such errors may make his organization seem less credible and less legitimate.
I am also sure he would be glad to discuss how press release errors directly correlate with the laziness of an organization as well as the possibility this error may be a sign of imminent decline within MCSO.
Once you fully understand the difference between a press release and an article, we invite you to write an article for posting here.
If you are interested please contact us using the contact option at the top of the web-site.