Teenager suspected of kidnapping baby in Varkaus

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A teenage girl, described only as "under the age of 15", is under suspicion for the baby kidnapping incident that occurred in the eastern city of Varkaus on Monday, the police announced on Friday afternoon.
     
The investigators in the case say that their own enquiries and some tips given by the public helped them to trace the suspect. The police stress nevertheless that at this stage the underage girl is only suspected of the crime.
      According to a press release issued by the police, the teenager’s case is now in the hands of child welfare authorities.
     
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 heard a baby’s whimpering and found the boy alive under a 20-centimetre layer of snow not far from where he had disappeared.
     
According to the infant’s family, the boy is at home and is doing well. The police found a lot of traces around the area of disappearance, which apparently led the investigators to the probable solution in the case.
      If it turns out that the girl who is now being questioned is the kidnapper she will not have to face criminal charges because of her young age.
     
Detective InspectorVeli Pallonen who replaced the earlier officer in charge of the investigation, stresses that the police are still keeping other lines of investigation open. For investigative reasons, the police will not disclose the precise age of the girl or the content of interrogations.
     
It is not unheard of even in Finland that another child is guilty of kidnapping a baby. Such an incident occurred for example in Tampere three years ago, when a pram and a ten-month-old baby girl disappeared from her home yard.
      The baby girl was soon found unharmed in a swing in the yard of one of the neighbouring houses.
      The most common explanation for a disappearance of an infant from a pram is another child, who just wants to play and who does not understand the gravity of the situation.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Decisive clue still missing in Monday´s baby kidnapping in Varkaus (11.3.2010)
  Police find kidnapped 3-month-old baby alive under 20-cm layer of snow - search for perpetrator in progress (9.3.2010)

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