Police are investigating an alleged abduction near the Giant Tiger store in New Glasgow Saturday night.
According to New Glasgow Regional Police around 8:45 p.m. an unknown man forced a woman into her 2017 white Dodge Durango with a New Brunswick licence plate.
The suspect then immediately left the area the victim and her vehicle and travelled north on East River Road then on to Washington Street, Marsh Street, Vale Road and onto the Sherbrooke Road heading to Blue Mountain.
Once in Blue Mountain, about a 15 minute drive from New Glasgow, the suspect assaulted the victim and fled the scene in another vehicle, described as a small four-door sedan which was parked nearby. The victim was taken to Aberdeen Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The age of the victim, where she was from and the nature of the assault have not been released.
The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-30s to mid-40s, clean shaven and wearing a baseball cap.
The New Glasgow Regional Police Major Crime Unit and Pictou County District RCMP General Investigations Section are continuing to investigate around the clock said New Glasgow Regional Police Const. Ken MacDonald. He said that any information the public can provide at this time is crucial.
"At that time, the Aberdeen Business Centre is a high traffic area." He said odds are there are people who may have witnessed the abduction or seen the vehicle as it travelled to Blue Mountain.
An employee of Giant Tiger who was working the night of the alleged abduction and requested their name not be used said employees didn’t know anything had happened that night and it wasn’t until police showed up the next day that they realized something was up. They said they knew nothing about the incident.
“I’m surprised anything would happen out front of Giant Tiger,” said Scott Hartlen owner of the Supplement King which is located in the Aberdeen Business Centre. “You’d think people would feel safe walking out of the mall to their vehicle. It’s not even that late at night.”
Sandy MacDonald works at Maritime Beauty and lives in Blue Mountain.
She said the business is closed on Saturday by 4 p.m. but her family was woken up by police around 3 a.m.
Police asked if there was a woman who had been by around 1:30 a.m.
“We were really confused,” she said. “It was quite the fright.”
She said there was a lot of police traffic on Sunday through the rural community.
“We didn’t know who they were looking for,” MacDonald said.
She describes the events as shocking.
“I hope the girl’s ok.”
In Blue Mountain residents were puzzled by the police presence and account.
“This is pretty weird,” said Terry Tobin, whose lane connects to the shoulder of road where the RCMP were searching on Sunday morning.
“I was home Saturday night and I didn’t hear anything.”
Tobin, nor the five other residents of the small community in Pictou County spoken to by The Chronicle Herald, could make sense of what they were hearing in the news.
None had heard of any area residents missing or assaulted or of any vehicles being stolen.
One man, however, did say that he saw an unoccupied white pickup truck on Saturday night that had apparently run into a guardrail.
Anyone with any information about this incident are being asked to contact Pictou County District RCMP at 1-902-755-4141 or New Glasgow Regional Police at 1-902-752-1941 or should you wish to remain anonymous, you can also contact Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or text TIP202 + your message to 'CRIMES' (274637) or submit tips by Secure Web at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca. Calls to Crime Stoppers are not tapped or traced and if police make an arrest and lay charges based upon the tip, callers qualify for a cash award.
– With files from Aaron Beswick, The Chronicle Herald
