Amber Alert Activated: Rockland County

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Amber Alert: Rockland Teen Kidnapped

The Town of Ramapo Police Department has activated the Amber Alert system to search for a teenage girl who was abducted by three masked men at about 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Police are urging the public to help locate the girl in what they are calling the crucial next few hours, WCBS 880's Catherine Cioffi reports.

They were last seen driving south on Trinity Avenue in a silver-and-gold Toyota Camry with the New York State license plate CPF 8770.

FOR PICTURES OF THE GIRL AND THE CAR

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13-year-old girl found after Ramapo abduction

By CATHERINE L. FOLEY

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 24, 2006)

A 13-year-old girl was found in the trunk of a stolen car in Spring Valley this evening, hours after being abducted outside her home as she got off the school bus, Ramapo police said.

The girl, Mara D. Downes, apparently was in good health when she was found on Homer Lee Avenue about 6:20 p.m. but was being checked out by paramedics. Police were called after a car matching the description of the one driven by the three masked teenage suspects was spotted.

A police SWAT team and a chopper were searching the area around Homer Lee Avenue in search of the suspects.

Magguy Eugene, 42, who lives across Trinity Avenue from the girl's house, said she had gone outside to get her mail when the school bus came and the girl got off.

"The two guys get out from the car and they grab her," Eugene said. "She was screaming, 'Help me! Help me!'

"I saw them fight to put her in the trunk," she said. Eugene immediately called 911 to report the abduction.

Ramapo police issued an Amber Alert and closed off part of Trinity Avenue as they interviewed neighbors and other witnesses.

The car was reported as a silver and gold four-door sedan 1997 Toyota Camry with New York license plates, reported stolen earlier this month from a gas station in Ramapo.

"I was saying," Eugene recalled, "'Oh my God, the girl, what are they going to do with her?"

A computer, digital camera and other equipment were taken from the girl's house by police after the abduction.