CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Two abductions were thwarted in Macomb County and the suspect is in police custody. Investigators said both attempted kidnappings happened Tuesday afternoon.
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The first incident was in Clinton Township on Clinton River Road between Hayes and Garfield
Paul Billiter, an observant and quick-thinking stranger, saved a 15-year-old girl in the Clinton Township incident. He said he was doing yard work when he noticed her walk by. Moments later, he said a car sped up and did a U-turn.
Billiter said that seemed suspicious enough. However, he and other neighbors tell 7 News Detroit they then heard an indescribable loud-pitched scream.
“She didn’t yell for help. She was just screaming like the way a dog would howl. She was terribly frightened on that,” he recalled.
Billiter, who stands at 6'5 and 270 pounds, said the girl's screams caused him to go from watching closely to taking action.
“I ran out there, and I grabbed a hold of the guy and he told me, ‘I’m her father.' The guy was in his 25 to 30, and it was impossible for him to be her father," he recalled.
"I yanked him out, and I held him there and I told him, ‘Hey, you’re not going nowhere with this girl. We’re calling the cops, and that’s that," Billiter said.
He stopped an attempted abduction.
VIDEO: Extended interview with Billiter below:
When he was called a hero, Billiter responded, "I’m no hero. I just responded with, hopefully, what anybody with common sense would have done."
The man drove away. Neighbors called 911 and got the man’s license plate.
“She was very thankful for it. She was more shook up than anything else," Billiter said.
"An adult can’t really process this and for a 15-year-old girl to process this, I’m not sure that she really understood the ramifications. She was afraid, but I’m not sure that she understood the ramifications of what could have happened and taken place," he continued.
Captain Anthony Coppola told 7 News Detroit, "We, at the Clinton Township Police Department, wish to extend our gratitude to all individuals who came to the aid of the juvenile female victim for their intervention, not only in the Clinton township jurisdiction but also those who assisted in the thwarting of another abduction in Sterling Heights."
Investigators said that man ended up getting caught in Sterling Heights an hour later after he tried to abduct a 7-year-old girl.
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In response, Billiter said, “I says that girl woulda been dead. That girl woulda been dead and in a ditch someplace because this guy, he was… it’s not that he seemed like he was crazy. He just seemed to be deliberate in what he was doing.”
