THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411260072
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Police tracked down and arrested in an abandoned house the father of a 3-year-girl after he abducted his daughter and stabbed the girl's aunt in the arm, authorities said. The child was not injured.
Fletcher J. Mitchell, 37, was charged with malicious assault and parental abduction, said Virginia Beach police spokesman Lou Thurston. Mitchell is being held at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center without bond.
Police said Mitchell stabbed Barbara A. Mitchell, 39, in the arm when she tried to stop him from taking his daughter from a residence in the 700 block of Arthur Ave. Fletcher Mitchell does not have custody of the child, Thurston said.
Mitchell took the girl to an abandoned house in the neighborhood near Rosemont and Holland roads and was hiding in a closet when a police officer using a tracking dog found him, police said.
Barbara Mitchell was treated at Virginia Beach General Hospital, Thurston said. She was watching the child for the girl's mother when the incident occurred.
KEYWORDS: KIDNAP ABDUCTION ASSAULT
by CNB