WILKES-BARRE -- An Amber Alert has been cancelled after authorities in Luzerne County arrested the suspect early Saturday morning and returned the 16-year-old girl safely to her family.
According to Wilkes-Barre Police, officers and U.S. Marshals Office got a tip that Walter Lewis, 21, and Jenea Patterson, 16, were in the area of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Officers spotted them in the parking garage. Police say Lewis tried to run but was captured after a brief struggle. He's now locked up on charges including kidnapping.
Patterson was taken to police headquarters, where she was reunited with her family. Police say she had not been hurt.
Police issued the Amber Alert for Patterson after they say she was abducted by Lewis around 11 p.m. Thursday from outside her home on Eastview Drive in Wilkes-Barre.
Police say Patterson was in a car with her sister and three friends, all heading home from a friend's house. Guillermo Levine was driving the girls home. When he drove into the neighborhood, he says Lewis was standing in the middle of the street.
"He pointed the gun at the tire and he said, 'Get out or I'm shooting the tire.'"
When Lewis tried taking Patterson, Levine says he tried to intervene. That's when Lewis pistol whipped him across his face and broke his nose.
Patterson, frightened by the violence, surrendered.
"She was just trying to agree with him so he wouldn't hurt us any further. She was just saying, 'Alright, I'll go with you, I'll go with you. Just stop, just stop, just stop,'" Levine recalled.
Neighbors say they saw Lewis grab Patterson from a vehicle, flee a parking lot and disappear into the woods.
"I just pray that he doesn't harm her. Just let her go," said a neighbor.
"We're re-interviewing people, following up on some leads that we have," said Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Robert Hughes.
Chief Hughes held a news conference Friday afternoon saying his department is working with local, state, and federal authorities to help bring Patterson home, but adding they don't know where he is hiding.
"It'd be in his best interest to turn himself in and turn the victim in safely," Hughes added.
Patterson's father is also searching for his daughter, saying he vows to find her.
"I got pains in my chest about this whole situation here, you know. But I'm not going to stop looking for her. I'm going to keep on 'til I find my child," James Patterson said.
Jenea Patterson's father also tells Newswatch 16 that Walter Lewis and his daughter were romantically involved and he tried to stop it.
Her mother said Patterson had filed for a Protection from Abuse (PFA) on Lewis. She said she saw the kidnapping happen right in front of her home.
"She was screaming, 'Mommy, mommy, he's taking me. Help me,'" Jenea's mother said.
Police considered Lewis armed and dangerous.
