Cop smarts, luck helped nab suspected kidnapper

Aggressive police work and a little bit of luck helped nab the suspected kidnapper of Midsi Sanchez just hours after the little girl made her daring escape in Santa Clara, Calif..

Curtis Dean Anderson, 39, who has a string of kidnapping and weapons convictions, was quickly identified as the lead suspect in the case just after Sanchez escaped from his vehicle Saturday morning, thanks to co-workers of Anderson who had seen him parked in a Santa Clara industrial area where he worked for the past two days.

Just after 7 p.m. Saturday night, Anderson was arrested without incident outside of a trailer park in San Jose, Calif., that he was known to frequent or previously live at, said San Jose police Sgt. Steve Dixon.

According to police, Midsi was kept tied up in Anderson's car and broke free and fled while he reportedly went into his job in Santa Clara. The girl ran screaming to a delivery truck driver while Anderson chased after her, telling the driver who she was and that she had been kidnapped. Anderson stopped pursuing the girl and ran back to his vehicle and sped off, police said.

Santa Clara police then swarmed into the area and began gathering information about the suspect.

Vallejo, Calif., police Lt. JoAnn West said co-workers of Anderson were the first to identify him as a suspect when Santa Clara police responded to Midsi's escape. Police then retrieved a mug shot of Anderson's that was positively identified by the truck driver who rescued Midsi, West said.

Once Anderson was identified as a suspect, Santa Clara police issued a bulletin for other departments to be on the lookout for the 6foot, 200pound man.

San Jose police dispatchers picked up the bulletin and ran Anderson's name through their computer databases, coming up with several addresses in San Jose.

When police arrived at one of the addresses, a trailer park, they immediately spotted Anderson's tan four-door sedan and set up a stakeout involving about 35 detectives and officers from the department's special tactical units, Dixon said.

When Anderson walked out of the trailer park and headed toward his car, police with guns drawn swarmed him and arrested him without incident, Dixon said.

Anderson was taken to San Jose police headquarters and then transported back to Vallejo by Vallejo detectives later Saturday night.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)