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Crime & Safety

LAPD: Family Not Tied to 10-Year-Old's Kidnapping

The police chief dismisses rumors about the disappearance of a young Northridge girl.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and a top spokesman Tuesday dismissed earlier speculation that family members might have been involved in the kidnapping of a 10-year-old Northridge girl from her home.

"There's nothing in this investigation at this point that leads us to believe the family was involved or connected to the child's abduction or kidnapping." said Lt. Andy Neiman, who heads the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section.

"There's no connection to the family."

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Neiman said the connection to the problems of family members in the past was never a part of the LAPD's investigation.

"It was something that media dug up on their own," Neiman said.

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Neiman's comments this afternoon were made following Beck's comments at the Police Commission meeting earlier today saying that no family members were involved in the investigation.

Beck said details of the crime will probably not be available "until the arrests are made and the indictments are sought in court."

The girl was snatched from her bed Wednesday in the 8000 block of Oakdale Avenue, a subdivision with large lawns and trees about a half-mile south of Cal State Northridge. She was dropped off near a hospital at 2:50 in the afternoon, and was comforted by a good Samaritan at a nearby coffee stand until police could be summoned.

For a while there was speculation that family members might have been involved because a family member had been jailed in connection with the abduction of a child in a custody dispute to Europe earlier. Eventually a family member served time in connection with the case.

Daniel Martinez, 29, of North Hills, was taken into custody in connection with the case Sunday. However, police believe the main suspect is Tobias Dustin Summers, 30, who they believe is in the San Diego area.

Summers has large tattoos of a flaming skeleton face, and a woman, on his right arm. He is described as a white man weighing about 160 pounds with blond, closely-cropped hair and blue eyes.

Police said the suspect is a transient known to frequent the Devonshire, North Hollywood and greater San Fernando Valley areas.

The LAPD called an afternoon news conference on Saturday to identify Summers and said he had probably shaved his head to change his looks.

Officers said Summers has a lengthy rap sheet dating back to 2002, and was released from prison or jail last July. He has served prison terms for robbery, kidnapping, explosives possession and petty theft, police said.

Although he is not known to be a registered sex offender, Summers did have an arrest for battery in 2009 that involved child annoyance, Smith said.

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