The search is still on for the homeless man that is suspected of abducting a missing 13-year-old girl he recently befriended.
The girl, from Van Nuys was found Sunday afternoon at a friend's home in North Hills more than a day after she was last seen leaving the 16700 block of Archwood Street in Van Nuys in her family’s red 1998 Nissan Pathfinder with the man, said Officer Eric Halem of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley station.
The homeless man, Michael Stewart, had previously befriended the girl and her mother and was referred to as a "family friend" who did tasks around their house.
Stewart took the girl on Saturday around 3 p.m. after telling the girl's mother he needed to pick up clothes in Pacoima and then left with the 13-year-old in the family's SUV. The man and the girl had still not returned by Sunday morning so her family reported her missing to police.
Stewart is being treated as a suspect. In a written statement, police described him as a 45- to 50-year-old Hispanic man with brown hair and brown eyes, standing 5-foot-7 and weighing about 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, grey pants and black and white shoes.
Stewart was possibly still driving the Pathfinder with license plate number 8CHH187.
Anyone with information about Stewart’s whereabouts was asked to contact the West Valley Area juvenile detectives at (818) 374-7730.
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