Suspect in Santa Clarita Abduction Is Found in Tree

Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man in Santa Clarita after he allegedly kidnapped a woman from a fast-food restaurant parking lot Monday, drove her to a remote stretch of road and raped her.

Deputies found the 24-year-old man hiding in a tree near the Placerita Canyon Nature Center after he had eluded police dogs, helicopters and deputies on horseback for hours.

Sgt. Byron Wainie said that at 6:30 a.m., the man smashed the driver’s window of the 21-year-old woman’s car in a Burger King parking lot on Lyons Avenue. He then forced her into the trunk and drove her car to Placerita Canyon Road, Wainie said.

The woman later escaped and called sheriff’s officials, who saw the suspect but couldn’t catch him. They found him a few hours later. His name was not released.