Police investigating possible kidnapping, assault of 7-year-old girl found in woods

PUYALLUP -- A 7-year-old girl reported missing from her home Wednesday was found severely beaten in the woods nearby her home hours later, Puyallup police said.

Police are investigating possible kidnapping and assault after finding the girl early Thursday morning near her home at the Glenbrooke Apartments in the 700 block of 43rd Avenue SE in Puyallup. The girl was choked, sexually assaulted and could not walk out of the woods on her own, police said.

The girl's parents called police after she went missing from the complex and family and friends searched for hours and failed to find her. Police called to the scene canvassed the complex in a door-to-door search. The canvas failed to locate the girl, and an officer from Normandy Park Police and his bloodhound were called to the scene at 11:50 p.m after a resident located the victim's shoe near the edge of a wooded area.

The bloodhound located the severely injured girl in the wooded area at 12:13 a.m.

According to police, the girl suffered extensive but non-life-threatening injuries, and was taken to a local hospital. She was able to identify her alleged attacker as a 14-year-old male resident of the same apartment complex. Police issued a search warrant for the suspect and took him into custody at 4:45 a.m.

Police are still trying to determine if the boy lured her into the woods, or if she went on her own.

Puyallup Police Department's Major Crimes Unit is investigating the case.