Man tries to abduct boy from Gandy Beach

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 17, 1999

ST. PETERSBURG -- Deputies say a stranger tried to abduct a 4-year-old boy Wednesday afternoon while his mother and a friend were swimming in the Gandy Beach area.

Investigators had no evidence that the abduction attempt was connected to kidnappings and rapes of girls and young women in the Tampa area, but they did not rule it out.

Quick action by two women saved the boy from being driven away in a stranger's car on the St. Petersburg side of the Gandy Bridge, deputies said.

Pinellas County sheriff's Deputy Cal Dennie recounted what had been reported to authorities:

About 1:45 p.m. just south of Gandy Boulevard, a man approached the boy and his brother, 6, and asked if they wanted to go fishing. The boys' mother, Jacqueline Crosby, 29, and her friend Vanessa Alexander, 26, were swimming nearby. The women live in the same apartment complex in Thonotosassa in Hillsborough County.

The 6-year-old boy went over to the two women and asked if he could go fishing with the man.

Crosby looked up and could not see her 4-year-old, but she saw a gold Oldsmobile Cutlass driving away in the unpaved parking area between the road and Tampa Bay.

Alexander got in her Jeep, drove beside the Cutlass for several feet and cut it off before the stranger could pull onto the eastbound road.

Alexander saw the 4-year-old boy on the Cutlass' floorboard.

She yelled at him to get out of the car, and he did. As Alexander grabbed the boy, the Cutlass drove off toward Tampa.

It happened quickly. The women described the suspect as a slender white man in his mid-30s, weighing about 150 pounds, with a light mustache and a tattoo of a cross on an upper arm.

The man had been seen talking to the boys about 45 minutes before the abduction attempt. His car was described as a mid-'80s gold two-door Oldsmobile Cutlass in good condition.

"As far as we know, this is not related to other abduction attempts that have happened in the area," Dennie said. However, he said Pinellas investigators would consult with neighboring law enforcement agencies.

Tampa and Hillsborough County authorities are seeking a man called the "cross-dressing rapist," suspected of committing or attempting as many as 22 attacks since October. He is described as white, 20 to 30, with a mustache. He usually wears women's clothing during his crimes and has been seen driving a red pickup truck.

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