A 13-year-old arrested and charged after allegedly trying to kidnap two women in Indian River County told authorities he felt like he was in a “dream-like” state when he approached them, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Pointe West neighborhood west of Vero Beach was shaken by the two attempted kidnappings on July 2 and July 7. Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said the teen admitted he had a knife in his pocket during the second crime.
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WATCH HEREIn both cases, the victims were able to escape, by screaming or pushing and running away to safety.
The sheriff’s office announced the arrest on Wednesday. It appears the teen is only currently charged with one count of attempted kidnapping. NBC6 isn't identifying him because he is a minor.
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Flowers also shared details about authorities’ interview with the teenager, and how his responses along with his mother’s point to mental problems.
“We asked him, is it sexual, what is it? Why is it that you did this?” Flowers said. “His story was that he felt like he was in a dream-like state, that he was watching himself from above, that he didn’t know if it was real or it was a dream… We believe that his intent was definitely more.”
The sheriff said surveillance images led investigators to the teenager. The child's mother confronted her son about the incidents and said she knew it was him in the picture, NBC affiliate WPTV reported.
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“There’s no belief that he’s on drugs, but I’ll tell you, mom sat in our room today and talked about how he is a compulsive liar, that he believes his own lies, that he’s been that way since he was 5 years old, that she can’t trust anything that he has to say,” Flowers said. “We believe that he definitely has some issues, some mental health issues… that will be something that the courts will be looking at.”
A third woman told WPTV that the same suspect followed her home while she was walking her dog and banged on her door on June 29. It frightened her, but she didn’t call the sheriff’s office until after word got out about the other two incidents.
