Police: Man tried to abduct 1-year-old in duffel bag in NW Indiana

Authorities have released a sketch of a man suspected of trying to abduct a 1-year-old boy by putting the child in a duffel bag last month in northwest Indiana.

A man was outside his home with his infant son shortly after 6 p.m. on June 29 in the 7400 block of East State Route 4 near Fish Lake in LaPorte County, Indiana, according to a statement from the LaPorte County sheriff’s office. A man approached from a van parked at the end of the driveway, presumably broken down, and asked the homeowner for some water.

The homeowner went inside to get the water, and when he came back out he saw the suspect trying to put the 1-year-old into a duffel bag, police said. The father “confronted the suspect and physically assaulted him” before taking his son into the house.

When the father came back outside, the suspect was driving away in the van, police said.

The suspect was described as a 5-foot-11, 200-pound white man in his 40s with a stocky, athletic build, according to police. He was unshaven and had “scruffy” brown hair, “tan and leathery skin” and crow’s feet around his eyes.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, gray camouflage shorts, brown work boots and white socks, police said. He was driving a van similar to a silver or gray 1990s Ford Aerostar, police said.

Anyone with information about the incident or the suspect is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (219) 326-7700.