After A Man Refused To Let An Old Man Go, Bystanders Call The Cops

Often, older people need help getting around and they may ask for help from time to time. When George was at his local mall one day, an older man approached him. The man seemed very confused and a bit shaky. Soon after, a third man approach them and quickly grabbed the old man, leading him away. The look on the old man’s face when he was led away caused George concern. What was going on?

Strong Grip

George knew he had to do something about it, since he had a bad feeling about the whole interaction. He was worried about the old man’s safety, since he noticed that he struggled against the young man’s tight grip. Some bystanders got involved as well.

Shouting

George immediately called out after the young man to stop, but he didn’t. This caused more people to notice what was going on. The older man looked back over his shoulder, trying to say something. The young man holding on to him whispered something in his ear and caused the old man to become very pale.

Black Van

George was trying to avoid causing a scene, and so he decided to follow them himself. The younger man started to move even faster, and when they got outside, he shoved the old man into a black van and quickly drove away. George urged bystanders to call the police, since now he was worried that they were dealing with a kidnapping situation.

Calling the Cops

Somebody nearby did call the cops, and every officer available was sent to the mall where everything had just happened. George waited for them impatiently, knowing that every minute that passed by could be crucial.

Questioning

The officers began their questioning in order to understand just what had happened. George felt guilty, wishing he had done more to help. The scene was crowded with police officers, who were questioning bystanders to try to find out more. Then, one person claimed that they had seen the old man before.

Every Second Counts

The bystander was immediately taken to another room in order for the cops to question him and figure out if there was any crucial information he could provide. Time was of the essence, as each second that passed by was critical. If the man had indeed been kidnapped, no time could be wasted.

Store Owner

One store owner in the mall named Jack said that he had seen the old man there a few times per month. While this was a good first lead, the main problem was that nobody seemed to recognize the young man that may or may not have kidnapped the older man.

Security Cameras

Jack gave the cops access to security cameras so that they could maybe help find the younger man in question. Jack fully cooperated with the investigation and even got the backups from computer servers. Then something strange happened…

Checking the Footage

When they reviewed the security footage, it looked as though the young man was purposely avoiding the cameras, and that it seemed as though he knew where they all were. They continued to review older tapes and noticed something even worse.

Background Checks

They saw the older man coming in each week on Mondays, and they could see the young man watching him, which led the police to conduct a background check on the older man. They discovered that he was a very wealthy man.

Hedge Fund Manager

In fact, the old man was a hedge fund manager that had made quite a lot of money through stock trading. This made them believe that this was sufficient motive for the young man to kidnap the man and that he would try to extort money. The police decided to monitor the man’s bank account to try to track any unusual situations.

Cameras Outside

While all of this was going on, several other cops decided to check the cameras outside. They were able to find the van, which arrived at a later time when the young man was already at the mall. That indicated that there was an accomplice as well. Things were starting to come together, and it looked like there was an elaborate plan at play.

Number Plate

The footage from the cameras outside the mall provided the police with a good view of the van, and they were able to see the license plate number. After checking, they realized that it had been reported stolen that same morning, so it would not be as helpful as they had initially hoped. Still, they were getting closer to answers now.

Tracking It Down

Some traffic cameras also got footage of the van, so they were able to easily track it down. They rushed to the last place where the van was seen. They brought George with them so he could identify the two men. When they arrived, they were absolutely stunned at what they saw.

Burned Out

When they arrived on the scene, they saw that the van had been completely burned out. It looked like the suspects wanted to hide the evidence. At this point, George was the only lead left, and they needed him to identify the old and young men. Hopefully they weren’t too late…

A Drawing

George was brought to a composite artist, and he gave him the best description he could remember of what the young man looked like. This meant the police would also have a better idea of who they were looking. Once the drawing was done, they tried to match the description with their database.

Identity Match

Amazingly, after only a few minutes of searching the database, a match was found. The police captain instantly went pale when they saw who the criminal in question was. Could it really be him?

Local Gang

The man in question was a felon called Marcus Lee, who was a local gang leader. He was imprisoned and only released from being in jail a few months before. He never reported to his parole officer, which made matters worse.

High Alert

The police captain immediately put the force on high alert, knowing that they had to focus in order to try to get the old man to safety. They complied a list of Lee’s accomplices to try to determine who was helping him out.

Rounding Up Dave

The police took in one of the accomplices named Dave, who was told he was in trouble because of Marcus. He told them that although Marcus had called him about a job, he had refused the offer. The police did not believe him.

Stacks of Cash

They began searching Dave’s house, where they found many stacks of money. When asked, he could not explain why the money was there, and they had no choice but to keep him in a holding cell while they searched his phone for any more clues. They also wanted to track Marcus’ phone using his number.

Calling Marcus

When they gained access to the phone, they realized that Marcus had left Dave a message on his phone, saying that he needed help. The cops asked Dave about this, but he had an alibi. Ultimately, they asked Dave to call Marcus in order to help them save the old man before he got hurt.

Calling Back

Dave agreed to cooperate and called Marcus twice. Though he was ready to give up, Marcus suddenly called him back. Dave put the phone on speaker, and the police could hear that Marcus was speaking in a suspicious way, like he was trying to hide something. What was going on?

Track Him Down

Marcus was reluctant to speak with Dave, which raised suspicions even more, but also convinced the cops that Dave was not actually involved. Marcus stayed on the line long enough for the cops to be able to track him in his warehouse. Were they about to find the old man?

The Warehouse

Every available cop headed to the warehouse immediately, along with a hostage negotiator. They reached a shipyard that was full of workers. When the police showed up, Marcus looked confused and did not try to run away.

Taking Him In

The police took Marcus by force, and he struggled against them, saying that he had not done anything wrong and that he felt attacked. When the police asked him about the older man, he got very defensive and did not respond.

Identified

George was asked to identify the suspect in a lineup and immediately identified Marcus as the man who had taken the older gentleman. Now there was no question about Marcus being involved, and now they just had to understand what exactly had been going on.

Caught in the Act

Marcus insisted that he did not know why he was being held and therefore he refused to talk. When the cops showed him a photo of the old man, he looked quite anxious, which pretty much sealed the deal for the police officers. They felt certain that they had finally caught the perpetrator.

No Credibility

Marcus kept saying that he had not done anything to the old man. He did confirm that he knew him, but he insisted that he never hurt him and that he didn’t even know the man was rich. The cops found the story hard to believe since Marcus’s credibility was nonexistent due to his past criminal offenses.

Finding the Old Man

After all of this, Marcus did not want to speak anymore. The phone rang at the station, and a cop came in on the line, saying that she found one of Marcus’s addresses. To that, he looked shocked.

Confused

The cops immediately rushed to the address, where they found a confused looking old man. He was afraid for his life, and was refusing to go with the police. He told them to get away before they would get in trouble. What was going on?

Not Recognizing

The cops assumed that the old man was referring to Marcus, and that he was afraid of what he might do to him if he left the house. They eventually were able to bring him to the police station, where he told them that he did not know Marcus, despite the fact that he was seated right across from him.

Sinister Laugh

Marcus started to laugh, which immediately confused the police officers. They had never encountered anything like this before — what was going on? Was the older man pretending not to know Marcus? Why would he do that?

Gary Starts Crying

All of a sudden, the old man, whose name was Gary, immediately started crying and told the officers that he wanted to go home. They asked him why he had been at Marcus’ house in the first place, and he told them that he had been looking for his daughter.

Barging In

Marcus tried to intervene, but the police officers quieted him down. They felt that he had already caused enough damage, and they warned him that he should get ready to go back to jail. However, then his parole officer arrived.

Release Him

The parole officer insisted that the officers release Marcus, since he had not done anything wrong. The police captain was even more confused, especially since Gary recognized the parole officer. Then, they finally got the explanation they were looking for.

Marcus Explains

When Marcus was released from prison, he wanted to do charity work. His parole officer sent him to an elderly home, where he met Gary. He got to know him, but he never learned that Gary was very wealthy. He did know that Gary suffered from memory loss, which made things very difficult for him.

Looking for His Daughter

In fact, Marcus was Gary’s volunteer caretaker, but due to his memory problems, Gary forgot who Marcus was and where he was. That’s why he was looking for his daughter. Everything all started to make sense.

Accident

As for the van, it turns out that Gary was trying to drive back to the nursing home, but he got in an accident and the van was totaled. Marcus lost Gary and was trying to find him.

Unfortunate Circumstances

Marcus went to all the places that Gary visited, like the mall and the shipyard. Gary went to Marcus’ house because it was a place that was familiar to him. Luckily, there was no kidnapping at all, and it had all been a big misunderstanding.