Police: Suspect stole BMW with sleeping 16-year-old girl inside before ditching both unharmed

SEATTLE -- Police are looking for a man who stole a parked car on Capitol Hill with a 16-year-old girl sleeping inside Friday morning. He later dropped off the teen and abandoned the vehicle in the International District.

Seattle police said the incident began just before 10 a.m. Friday at 10th Avenue East and East Howe Street. The owner of the car was exercising nearby while her 16-year-old daughter slept in the running, unlocked BMW.

"The suspect got into the vehicle and drove away toward the International District," police said on their online blotter. "The girl was able to communicate with her mother via text and the mother called 911."

The driver then dropped the girl off near Kobe Park and she called her mother and told her where she was. She was unharmed.

The stolen BMW was later found abandoned and still running in a parking lot in the 300 block of South Maynard Street, police said.

Police were unable to find the man, but surveillance cameras from nearby businesses captured images of a suspect. He is described as white, about 25 to 35 years of age, 5-foot-8, with a medium build. He was wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt, blue Mariners cap, gray sweatpants and black tennis shoes. He was wearing a navy blue T-shirt underneath the sweatshirt.

Police ask that you call Seattle police at (206) 684-5540 if you recognize the suspect.