Charges Dropped Against Suspected Serial Kidnapper For Lack Of Evidence
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Charges have been dropped against a Miami man accused of trying to abduct young girls.
Marshawn Andrews, 25, was arrested in December after a Miami Police officer noticed him attempt to pick up two females, at two separate locations, within minutes of each other.
It came after similar reports of attempted abductions had occurred in the area on November 10th and December 12th. One girl was 15, the other 17.
On December 23rd, Andrews was seen making a U-turn at N.W. 29th Street, east of N.W. 7th Avenue, stopping his car to talk to a young woman walking on the sidewalk, authorities said. The officer, in an unmarked vehicle, then pulled up behind Andrews to check on her and see if she was alright. She told him that Andrews offered her a ride.
Andrews continued driving westbound.
Minutes later, the officer observed him offer another woman a ride who was walking along N.W. 7th Avenue. She would get in.
Andrews was soon pulled over and gave a conflicting account of what happened, according to a memorandum from the State Attorney's Office. He told officers that the woman was his girlfriend. The woman, however, admitted that she didn't know Andrews and had been asked if she needed a ride.
Fitting the description of the suspect, in both appearance and due to the proximity of the previous encounters, Andrews was arrested later that day.
Investigators would call in the two other victims to the police station, trying to tie Andrews to the previous attempted abduction incidents. They both picked him out of a photo lineup as the same guy who tried to kidnap them, the State Attorney's Office said.
But this evidence would not be enough for a conviction, prosecutors argued. For one, both victims didn't get a clear look at their attacker.
"The victim indicated that she picked the photo that most closely resembled the man she saw, but also said under oath that she did not get a very good opportunity to see his face during the incident, because it was still fairly dark outside and she ran away from him without seeing his face for long," said the State Attorney's Office.
The other victim, too, "did not immediately identify his photograph, although she looked very upset and agitated when she saw it," the report said.
Those women also described the suspect in a white van, which Marshawn Andrews was not driving.
The State Attorney's Office concluded that although Andrews' behavior "in trying to pick up young women to give them rides, when he did not even know them," was deemed "alarming and suspicious," he could not be linked to the previous kidnapping attempts.
It was also determined that no crime had been committed the day Andrews was stopped by police.
During a bond hearing in December, Andrews' attorney called this a case of mistaken identity.
