A stepfather in Utah helped nab an intruder who was in the midst of abducting a 5-year-old girl on Friday, Fox 31 reported.
Troy Mitchell Morley, 48, allegedly committed two felonies, burglary and kidnapping of a child, the Sandy, Utah police department said.
"The motive for the abduction and intentions of the suspect towards the child are not known," police said
The family is not known to have been previously acquainted with Morley.
At about 4:30 a.m., Morley broke into the home and found the child asleep in the basement. A court statement said he woke the girl up and told her to follow him.
Morley carried her upstairs, making noises that alerted her parents. The stepfather woke up and ran to the door in time to see the man carrying his daughter across the front lawn, the Washington Post reported.
He followed Morley, demanding that he hand over his daughter and questioning him about his reasons for snatching her.
Without hesitation, Morley handed the girl over and ran off, leaving the stepfather to call 911.
Morley ran into another home two blocks away to try to hide from police, but the homeowner's dogs began to bark and alerted them. Police were then able to take the man into custody after a police dog bit him in the shoulder.
"Thirty seconds later and it would have been all over," the family spokesperson, Miles Holman, said. "He would have been long gone."
In Roy, where Morley lived, neighbor Andrea Shearer, 33, said she didn't allow her children to go near the man after he had made some inappropriate comments and acted strangely. Shearer had also caught him sneaking into her backyard and the yards of others. Morley scared her and she said she had obtained a do not trespass order against him from police.
