Search for a ‘Kidnaped’ Girl Turns Into a Case of Merely a Stolen Car

Los Angeles police looked long and hard Friday for little Kanesha Johnson.

The 4-year-old youngster was reported missing by her uncle, who claimed that she was sleeping in the back seat of his customized 1983 Camaro when it was stolen from the parking lot of a roller rink in the San Fernando Valley.

More than two dozen officers conducted three separate door-to-door searches for the pigtailed youngster from Compton, and three men, who were later arrested on suspicion of stealing the car, were questioned for several hours about her whereabouts.

The only problem was, little Kanesha was never missing. She was enjoying the day with her father in San Diego.

Called Girl’s Father

Police said her 20-year-old uncle, Anthony McKinley, had been taking care of the girl at the request of her mother, but had gotten tired of child care and had called the girl’s father, who lives in San Diego, to come get her.

McKinley, who touched off the massive search by insisting to investigators and the girl’s mother that the pajama-clad youngster was missing, was arrested and booked late Friday afternoon on a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. It carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Lt. William Gaida of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division said McKinley claimed that his niece was missing because “he wanted a quicker police response to find his Camaro.”

Friday evening, McKinley attempted to hang himself in an interview room at Southeast Division station, investigators said. He was alone when a detective heard noises coming from the room, said Detective Bud Mehringer.

Hanging From Door Hinge

The detective rushed into the room and found McKinley hanging from a door hinge, Mehringer said. McKinley used what appeared to be string “tripled or quadrupled” to the thickness of a rope, he said.

The suspect was taken to Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center where he was listed in good condition and is being held for mental observation.

The search for the little girl, which attracted the attention of most news organizations in Los Angeles, began at 1:35 a.m. when the car was stolen from the parking lot of the Sherman Square Roller Rink, 18430 Sherman Way, Reseda, where McKinley had gone to see a friend.

As he was returning to his car, McKinley said, he saw two men smash a window, get into the auto and drive away.

All-Points Bulletin

Authorities were notified that the car was missing and the child was inside it. An all-points bulletin was issued for the sleek black vehicle, which has Louisiana license plates, detectives said.

The car was spotted at 4:15 a.m., parked about 30 miles away in the vicinity of 95th and San Pedro streets. But when officers went to investigate, the car was gone.

The Camaro was later found abandoned about a mile away on 83rd Street near Hooper Avenue. The auto’s stereo and other accessories had been ripped out of the dashboard.

But there was no sign of the little girl.

Girl’s Mother Upset

The girl’s mother, Nellie McKinley, 24, was not only upset at the supposed abduction but also at her brother, Anthony, because she thought he had left the child alone in the car.

“Yeah, she’s pretty (put out) with me,” McKinley told reporters at one point.

But as the day progressed, inconsistencies in his story began to crop up.

McKinley, who reluctantly talked to reporters at the place where his car was found, was asked why he did not take his niece into the roller rink with him.

‘She Was Asleep’

“She was asleep . . . and they (rink operators) wouldn’t have let her in,” he replied.

But the rink’s general manager, Charles Siegmund, said that was not true. “He could have brought the kid in,” he said. “We wouldn’t have turned the kid away.”

Then Siegmund added: “This guy comes in and says someone has taken his car. He didn’t mention anything about a kid.”

Despite this, McKinley continued to insist that his niece was, indeed, missing. He went further and even made a plea to the thieves via news reporters: “Drop her off in front of the police station. Don’t hurt her. Don’t panic.”

Meanwhile, detectives developed a lead at 95th and San Pedro streets, where the car was first spotted after the theft.

Three Questioned

Gaida said three men, whose names were not released, were subsequently brought in for questioning.

During the interrogation, the trio apparently decided to come clean.

“They said, ‘OK, OK, we took the car, OK?’ ” Gaida related. “ ‘But there was no kid in it, OK? No kid in the car. . . . ‘ “

Officers quickly brought McKinley in for more questioning. It was then that he admitted that the kidnaping was a hoax, Gaida said.

Times staff writers Marc Igler and Ed Boyer also contributed to this story.