Detectives hope sketches lead to kidnappers

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published June 30, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT White Female, early 20s, pale complexion, long blonde hair with black roots. Wearing all black clothing. She also had her nose pierced on the right side and her right eyebrow pierced. Male, described as Hispanic or Chinese (dark skin), early 20s , 5'8 - 5'9, wearing blue jeans, black t-shirt, olive green army style jacket and wearing a black knit cap. Suspect armed with handgun.

TAMPA - The woman was young, pale, had long, bleached hair with dark roots and sported a piercing in her right eyebrow and others in her nostril.

The man was wearing a dark knit cap and had both ears pierced. He seemed to be in his 20s and wore jeans, a black T-shirt and an Army-style jacket.

Those are among the things sheriff's investigators say Maria Tsikurios, 46, remembers about the two attackers she said kidnapped her at gunpoint Tuesday morning and abandoned her in Hernando County.

Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives on Friday released composite sketches of the individuals based on Tsikurios' memory.

Tsikurios had been unlocking her Town 'N Country bagel shop, St. Pete Bagels, before 6 a.m. Tuesday when the strangers forced her to empty her cash register and then demanded she get behind of the wheel of her Chrysler Voyager minivan.

Tsikurios drove the couple to an automated teller machine, where she withdrew more cash for her captors.

When the couple instructed her to keep driving, she headed north on the Suncoast Parkway and got off on State Road 50 in Hernando County, where they left her and the van near U.S. 19 in Spring Hill.

Anyone with information can call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 23:27:20]