Man arrested in kidnapping, sexual assault of Wyoming girl

Authorities have announced the arrest of a man suspected of the Oct. 8 kidnapping and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in Cody, Wyo.

Few details were available Sunday. “The suspect and vehicle (white Toyota 4Runner) involved in the child abduction case in Cody has been captured,” the Wyoming Highway Patrol said on its Facebook page. “Thank you for all of your assistance and information!”

An FBI news release said that the man had been arrested in Belgrade, Mont., and that further details would be released at a Monday morning news conference at Cody City Hall.

The small community of Cody was shaken last week after hunters found the girl, walking alone along the road at night in 30-degree weather.

“She said, ‘A man kidnapped me, and he let me go,’ ” one of the hunters, Shane Larsen, told the Cody Enterprise. “When you hear something like that, your mind just goes numb.”

She’d been missing for several hours — that afternoon, according to police, the girl and a friend had been approached by a man in a white Toyota 4Runner in front of the Park County Complex.

Police said the man told the girls he needed help finding a puppy. When she got close to his 4Runner — which had a mattress laid out in the back — he pulled out a gun and forced her to get in, police said.

The suspect was estimated to be between 45 and 60, with short white or strawberry blond hair.

Authorities put out an Amber Alert, but the hunters who found her hadn’t known she was missing.