Is Holly Bobo abduction linked to other kidnapping attempt?
(CBS/WREG/AP) PARSONS, Tenn. - Investigators in the abduction of Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo are studying whether the attempted kidnapping three months ago of another young about 40 miles away might be connected.
Heather Sullivan of Hickman County reported that a tall, skinny man in a gray hooded jacket grabbed her arm as she stepped out of her home early in the morning, but when the glass top of a lamp she was holding fell and shattered, the potential kidnapper ran away.
"I was scared. I was numb. I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything or do anything," said Sullivan according to local station WSMV.
Sullivan called police, who searched the woods. No one was found, and Sullivan said she hasn't seen the man since.
While police initially believed an abductor dragged Bobo, 20, away as she left for school last Wednesday,
investigators now suspect it was a community member who led Bobo into
the woods near her home.
Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said authorities will look at all possibilities.
According to CBS affiliate WREG, the search area was widened last Thursday and covers rugged terrain so thick that at least one search dog had to be carried by its handler on Wednesday afternoon, police said. Authorities also were using a helicopter to scan from the sky.
Police believe that whoever abducted Bobo is a hunter or someone familiar with the area near her home, which is surrounded by rugged woodlands.
Authorities have refused to rule out anyone in the community of Parsons, about 100 miles northeast of Memphis, as a potential suspect.
Investigators have discovered several of Bobo's personal items, including her cell phone, purse and lunch box.
Bobo is 5-feet-3-inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. She was last seen around 7:30 a.m. last Wednesday wearing a pink shirt and light blue jeans. Officials ask that anyone with information contact the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.