An international manhunt for a New England man accused of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter a week ago came to an end yesterday afternoon when FBI agents arrested the fugitive and rescued the girl in Mount Vernon, officials said.
FBI agents were tipped off to the presence of a man known as Clark Rockefeller by a real estate agent who leased him a carriage house in Baltimore, according to a police source familiar with the investigation.
The source spoke to The Sun on condition of anonymity because the kidnapping case is being handled by federal authorities.
At a news conference last night in Boston, officials said that federal agents have been watching Rockefeller's Baltimore residence for "a couple of days" and also located his 26-foot catamaran docked at a city marina.
Agents lured Rockefeller out of the carriage house about 3:30 p.m. by placing a phone call to him and saying his boat was taking on water, according to Boston police. When Rockefeller left the place, FBI agents went in and found his daughter, Reigh Boss, police said.
"She was reportedly excited to see law enforcement officials," Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said last night. "Her appearance had not been altered. Reigh appears to be unharmed."
The girl's mother, Sandra Boss, was en route to Maryland yesterday evening.
Rockefeller was arrested without incident, police said. He faces charges of felony kidnapping, assault and battery, and battery with a dangerous weapon. He is expected to be arraigned tomorrow.
The arrest ended about a five-hour stakeout. Lauren Gritzer, 26, said she was in her apartment in the 100 block of W. Monument St. at 10:30 a.m. when FBI agents arrived.
Gritzer, a researcher for Johns Hopkins Medicine, said law enforcement officers stayed in the apartment, which overlooks the carriage house where Rockefeller and his daughter lived, for about five hours. "This isn't my typical Saturday," she said. "I was planning on cleaning my apartment."
Stan Kamau, a parking attendant in the Walters Art Museum lot on the corner of Cathedral and Centre Streets, said he saw about 20 plainclothes officers with pistols and "military guns" run down Cathedral Street about 3:30 p.m. and detain a man, put him in a van and leave."He looked shabby. He didn't look like a kidnapper. He didn't look like someone who could do something big," Kamau said.
