Decisive clue still missing in Monday’s baby kidnapping in Varkaus

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On Wednesday, the police investigating a kidnapping incident that occurred in the eastern city of Varkaus on Monday said that they were still missing a decisive clue.
      Detective Sergeant Ari Hautala from the North Savo Police Department noted in the afternoon that the police have been receiving a lot of hints about a potential kidnapper.
      However, the investigators in the case are still missing the ”correct” clue that would help them to solve the crime.
      ”At present, the police are working hard in order to check all tipoffs and clues. So far, we have not managed to make a breakthrough”, Hautala reported.
     
A three-month-old baby boy was snatched from his pram in the residential area of Kuoppakangas on Monday just before 11 a.m.
      Three hours later, a crime scene investigator found the baby alive under a 20-centimetre layer of snow in the close vicinity of the area of his disappearance.
     
According to the boy’s mother, the baby has escaped the life-threatening situation unharmed even though his temperature was very low when he was found.
      At the time of the abduction, the temperature in Varkaus was lower than than -4°C, but in the afternoon the temperature rose close to zero.
     
The North Savo Police Department is investigating the kidnapping in cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation as a crime of attempted murder.
      Initially the description had been of a lesser offence, but it has transpired that the infant was actually at some considerable risk of his life while exposed to the elements.
     
Some people have suggested to the police that an animal could have snatched the baby from his pram.
      According to Hautala, this is not possible.
      ”We can say for sure that the perpetrator is a human being, but we do not know yet whether he or she is young or old”, he added.
      One line of enquiry has been that the infant was snatched by a child - adult kidnappings of this nature are extremely rare.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police find kidnapped 3-month-old baby alive under 20-cm layer of snow - search for perpetrator in progress (9.3.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat