Sioux Falls Woman Narrowly Escapes from Being Kidnapped

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Police Spokesman Sam Clemens says a woman now says she was not the target of a kidnapping attempt on Friday night.

"The initial report came in on Saturday night. A woman said she was walking with a friend and a van drove past. She told police people in the van tried to abduct her and tried to force her into the van. The detective was able to track down everybody involved, including the suspect. He found out that wasn't the case. There was a drug component to this. At this time, there hasn't been any arrests or charges. But, we know who everybody is. The story we found out happened was a little bit different than what she initially gave."

Clemens says the people in the van were apparently trying to get items, not the woman.

A 23-year-old woman allegedly escaped from being kidnapped on Friday night (September 2) in Sioux Falls.

Police spokesman Sam Clemens said the woman was at a casino in the 1400 block of East 10th Street with a female friend. As the evening progressed, the victim claims that the female friend began to act strangely.

Her behavior was getting so odd that it caused the victim to text another female friend, regarding the friend's strange behavior. In the text, the victim mentioned that she agreed to walk home with the friend even though she was displaying abnormal behavior that evening.

According to the police report, the two woman left the casino around 11:00 PM and started walking on Van Eps Avenue when a van pulled up between Seventh and Eighth streets.

As the van neared, the friend yelled out "That's her!" The man driving the van got out and tried to push the victim inside the van, with the help of the victim's friend.

As the two of them were trying to get the victim inside the van, the friend who received the victim's text message appeared with the victim's mother. They began to yell at both suspects, which caused them to get back into the van and speed away, leaving the victim behind unharmed, according to Clemens.

Sioux Falls police say the victim was able to identify both suspects, but they have not found either person at the current time.

The victim said she has no idea why the two individuals would want to try and kidnap her.