The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station held a news conference last Friday, March 25, to release the shocking details surrounding some tense moments when a 2-year-old girl was kidnapped at knife-point from her grandfather’s lap while inside her Agua Dulce home in an unincorporated area of LA County.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the 2-year-old victim, her family, and one of the two heroic residents who helped deputies find the girl, Captain Roosevelt Johnson of the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station, along with the deputies who eventually found the girl, recapped the chain of events that resulted in her being saved from her armed captor. Captain Johnson gave praise to all the rescuers involved.
It all began Monday night, March 21, at approximately 8:30 p.m. The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station received a frantic 911 call indicating that a girl had been kidnapped.
Deputies quickly rushed to the scene to help and later learned that the Agua Dulce grandfather was babysitting his four grandchildren when the suspect, Thomas Ray Dillingham, a 40-year-old parolee with an extensive criminal history, allegedly rushed into his residence through an open door brandishing a large kitchen knife. The man demanded the child who was sitting on her grandfather’s lap, reportedly yelling, “I’m taking the baby!”
The grandfather had never seen the suspect before and tried to resist his efforts to take the child. Deputies later learned that Dillingham had only moved into the neighborhood one week prior to the incident. The suspect allegedly attempted to stab the grandfather, grabbed the little girl, and fled from the trailer. The frantic grandfather attempted to follow the suspect but lost sight of him. He pounded on a neighbor’s door for help and Carlos Rodriguez, an 18-year-old man from Agua Dulce who is being dubbed a hero, came to the door. Carlos immediately called 911 and relayed the information to dispatchers at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. He stayed on the phone and provided valuable and detailed information throughout the ordeal.
Another woman in the mobile home park, who deputies are also calling a hero, assisted the grandfather in the search for the kidnapped child. The 43-year-old woman was able to find out from another neighbor where the suspect lived.
Thanks to the quick actions of the neighbors, responding Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Deputies Michael Miller and David Nisenoff were able to immediately discern the suspect’s location upon arrival. The two deputies made contact with the suspect and ultimately arrested him. When searching for the child, they found her inside the bedroom of the suspect’s trailer. It was determined the toddler had not been harmed.
“This story demonstrates the good that can come out of residents who are willing to get involved and help law enforcement while still keeping themselves out of harm’s way,” said Captain Roosevelt Johnson of the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station. “There is no doubt, based on this suspect’s violent past and unstable behavior, that moments matter and these residents helping deputies may have just saved a life by acting quickly, he added.” Captain Johnson presented Carlos Rodriguez with a Sheriff’s certificate recognizing his involvement. In a touching moment, the deputies who rescued the victim gave her and her siblings Sheriff’s Deputy toy bears.
The suspect, Dillingham, was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday, March 23, with one count of kidnapping a victim under 14 with use of a knife allegation and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, a knife. If convicted, Dillingham faces up to 30 years in state prison. The case remains under investigation and the suspect is being held without bail at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles (-ref case PA085950).
