Investigators named a 30-year-old parolee as wanted in the case of a missing 10-year-old girl from Northridge in southern California, who turned up barefoot and wounded in Woodland Hills last week.
Tobias Dustin Summers, who has a distinct tattoo on his right arm (pictured below), is wanted in connection with the girl's abduction, LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said at a Saturday afternoon news conference.
Summers has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2002, Albanese said. He was released from prison in July 2012 under California’s AB 109, an initiative aimed at easing prison overcrowding, and was on "post-supervised release," Albanese said.
Probation officials believe the 30-year-old is a transient known to frequent the North Hollywood and Devonshire areas. Summers is about 6 feet tall, 160 pounds, with blue eyes and cropped blond hair. He not a registered sex offender.
"We really need the public's help to take this guy into custody. If they see him, we can't emphasize enough, call 911," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.
Investigators said Summers is the only person they are looking for right now, though the victim told detectives that two men took her from her bedroom, police said last week.
Detectives from LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division are petitioning the court for an arrest warrant.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation. Federal authorities said they are prepared to issue a federal warrant for Summers' arrest if he leaves California.
"Should he leave the state, we will have multitude of resources throughout the United States and international, if necessary, to take him into custody," Bill Lewis, of the FBI’s Los Angeles division, said.
The case involves a 10-year-old girl who was kidnapped from her home March 27 between 1 and 3:30 a.m.
She was taken to an abandoned home near a storage facility in Chatsworth before being dropped off at a Kaiser hospital in Woodland Hills.
She walked about a mile to a Starbucks where a passerby recognized her from media reports and alerted police.
She was found barefoot and with bruises and cuts on her face at 3 p.m. the same day she went missing, police said.
Since the girl has been found, NBC4 is no longer identifying the girl by name or in images that had been released by authorities.
The girl told investigators two men she did not know took her from her home and held her for more than 10 hours before dropping her off.
She said she rode in a black pickup truck, which police found during a search of a Bekins A-1 Moving Solutions yard in Chatsworth, police said.
Police were searching for a second vehicle they believe was used in the case.
Police -- working with the FBI -- fanned out across the San Fernando Valley, to conduct interviews and search locations where the girl said she believed she was taken with the hope of finding the men responsible.
As many as 20 detectives were believed to be working on the case. Police established a tipline for people to provide information about the investigation: 213-486-6890.
Related:
Tipline Set Up in Northridge Kidnapping Case
Aunt of Northridge Kidnapping Victim Saw Own Son Abducted
Missing 10-Year-Old Northridge Girl Found, Two Wanted in Abduction
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Police Department