Crime & Safety

Whereabouts of Young Man Seen Viciously Assaulted & Abducted Outside Elmhurst Kohl's Still a Mystery: Cops

The Elmhurst cops closed the case without locating a man who was reportedly forced into a car and driven away.

A mother and daughter told police they watched as a young man was brutally beaten, forced into a car and driven away from the parking lot of the Elmhurst Kohl's.

The mother and daughter were leaving the Route 83 store shortly before 10 p.m. March 20 when they witnessed the attack, police said.

A young white man, between 16 and 20 years old, about 6-feet-tall and wearing jeans and a black hooded sweat shirt with red lettering, walked by the Kohl's, the mother and daughter reportedly told police.

As the young man passed, "he said aloud, 'Why the f--- are you following me?'" according to a police report obtained by Patch.

"At that time two white males exited a 4 door sedan and began punching and kicking the victim, the victim ended up on the ground and they continued to kick him while he was on the ground," the report said.

"The driver of the sedan said, 'Get him in the car,'" the report said. "The two males who were punching and kicking the victim then grabbed the victim one by his arms and the other by his legs and put him in the back seat of the vehicle on the passenger side."

The driver and the two men who carried out the attack were about the same age as the waylaid man, police said.

The mother and daughter who witnessed the attack believed it was the real thing, police said.

"They don't believe the people were playing around because they were kicking the victim in the stomach," the police report said. "They said the victim wasn't screaming when he was placed in the back of the vehicle but he was struggling and trying to protect himself while being kicked on the ground."

Once the beaten man was stuffed into the back seat of the car, the driver sped north. The mother and daughter reportedly told the law they believed the car exited the parking lot onto West Avenue.

After learning of the assault and kidnapping, two Elmhurst police officers reportedly headed over to a quarry about a mile away to look for the young man.

The officers went to the Chicago Stone Company on West First Street "and walked the fence line of the quarry for possible victim location," a police report said. "We didn't locate any evidence or individuals."

The Elmhurst police also checked with Glen Oaks Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, Alexian Brothers, Hinsdale Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital to see if any of the facilities "had anyone admitted for battery-related injuries," the report said. The police came up empty.

Hours later, about 3:30 a.m. on March 21, a Glen Oaks emergency room nurse told police a 22-year-old man was "admitted to the hospital with injuries consistent (with) a battery," the report said, but it turned out the young man was the victim in an unrelated case being handled by the Bloomingdale Police Department.

The Elmhurst police said they broadcast the case to "all departments in the Chicago area" and passed the word to York High School to see if any teachers there had information about the incident.

Seemingly out of leads, the Elmhurst police shut the book on the case of the kidnapped young man on March 27.

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