Rochester Police Pursuit Ends With Capture of Minnesota Kidnapping Suspect
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Rochester Police chased down and captured a man suspected of kidnapping his child from a Rochester elementary school.
The incident began Tuesday morning and lasted into Tuesday afternoon. Police Captain Casey Moilanen said the suspect does not have custody of the child.
The police report indicates the man, identified as 42-year-old Roderick Malone of New Hope, was first spotted in Rochester around 11 a.m. at White Oaks Park in the 4500 block of 55th St. Northwest. A woman sitting inside of a parked vehicle said a man later identified as Malone attempted to open the locked doors of her vehicle and was asking her for the time.
The woman provided officers a description of the vehicle Malone was driving. That same vehicle was then spotted about a mile west of the park at George Gibbs Elementary School.
School staff told police that the mother of Malone’s child granted Malone permission to visit but not take the young student. Administrators reported Malone then took the child from the school despite their efforts to intervene.
The staff members called 911 and provided police with a description of the vehicle. They also informed the child’s mother that Malone had taken the student out of the school, Moilanen said.
Around 11:50 a.m., a neighbor in the 5500 block of 44th Ave. Northwest reported seeing a man dragging a woman up a driveway into a garage and throwing a child on the ground, Moilanen said.
Malone was then seen leaving with the child. Officers then spotted and began pursuing the suspect vehicle as it traveled east on 55th St. Northwest in the area of Hwy. 52, according to the police report.
The vehicle was then seen running a red light as it made a left turn onto northbound 18th Ave. Northwest. Moilanen said Malone briefly stopped the vehicle in the 6700 block but refused to comply with officer commands and continued northbound.
Law enforcement had blocked off traffic access to 18th Ave. Northwest as Malone continued driving north until stopping for a second time just south of 75th St. Northwest.
Moilanen said Malone initially refused law enforcement commands to exit the vehicle and appeared to have been digging through the vehicle’s glove compartment before eventually surrendering to the authorities. Olmsted County Jail records indicate he was booked into the jail shortly after 12:30 p.m.
The child was found in the back seat of the vehicle and appeared to be unharmed. Moilanen said the preliminary investigation indicates Malone went to the home of the mother of his child while she was at the house, smashed a patio door and shut off the wifi to disable the home’s security cameras.
He’s also suspected of stealing the woman’s phone after taking it when she attempted to dial 911. Malone was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, first-degree burglary, fleeing police in a motor vehicle, simple robbery, child endangerment, domestic assault and interfering with a 911 call.
Malone has not yet been formally charged and remains in the Olmsted County Jail. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Rochester Police Department.
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