Girl, nine, found two days after being kidnapped

Two days after an intruder brazenly kidnapped her from her home, a nine-year-old girl walked into a corner shop 15 miles away “crying and scared,” police in California said today.

Jennette Tamayo was dropped off in the East Palo Alto area late last night. Details of her condition were not immediately available.

Police said the suspect, who was a stranger to the family, had staked out the girl’s house on Friday and waited for her to come home from school.

Before he sped away, her mother and teenage brother arrived home, and were assaulted by the suspect before he fled.

Much of the ordeal was caught by a neighbour’s video surveillance camera.

In Jennette’s neighbourhood, residents poured into the streets last night to hug and celebrate as news of her discovery spread.

“It was just like a Hollywood script,” said neighbour Karen Kamfolt. “People came from all directions out of their houses.”

“It is a wonderful ending to a horrible nightmare,” said Kamfolt, whose surveillance cameras recorded the kidnapping.

The video showed a man parking in front of Tamayo’s home and going inside. Police believe he may have used a broken rear window.

After about 25 minutes, the suspect returned to wait in his car. Around him, neighbours carried on their daily activities.

Jennette is later seen entering the house alone. The man gets out of his car moments later and follows her into the house.

After another 25 minutes inside, the suspect came back out, backed his car into the garage and closed the door.

Around this time, Jennette’s mother and 15-year-old brother drove up. The boy, whose name has not been given, tried to open the garage door.

He managed to pry the bottom of the door open and crawled underneath, at which point, police said, he was attacked and choked.

Rosalie Tamayo is seen running into the house to help her son. Police said the suspect confronted her between the kitchen and garage, and beat her with pans and a ladder.

By now the boy has broken free, and is seen on the tape running outside for help. His mother comes out moments later, bloodied but screaming for help too.

The suspect then pulled out of the driveway in his car with Jennette inside and sped across the lawn, crushing rose bushes along the way.

“The tape makes it very clear that he was targeting this house,” a police spokesman said.

“He wasn’t roaming the neighbourhood looking for houses to break into. He was there for quite some time, just waiting for this little girl to come home.” No arrests have been made.