BARTOW - Police are looking for a man who abducted a woman and her child during a home invasion early today. The man later released both unharmed, police said.
Detectives said the man wore a ski mask and otherwise concealed his identity.
Detective Eric Sherouse of the Bartow Police Department gave the following account of what happened:
Georgianna Whyte, 40, told police she woke about 4:30 a.m. and saw the intruder standing over her bed, armed with a handgun. Police said it appears the man forced his way into the Lucille Street home through a rear door.
He demanded cash, and when Whyte said she had none, he forced her to drive her 2007 Ford Explorer, with her son and the intruder, to an ATM. They drove to the MidFlorida Bank on Van Fleet Drive.
For some reason, Whyte wasn't able to withdraw cash there, and the man ordered her to return home. As they approached Lucille Street, the man ordered Whyte to drive instead onto Lyle Parkway. They headed west until reaching the 1500 block of Lyle Parkway, where the man told Whyte to stop and get out with her son.
The man then drove east in the Explorer, and neither he nor the vehicle has been seen since. Whyte and her son walked to a nearby Sunoco gas station, where she reported what happened.
The vehicle is a black and tan Eddie Bauer model, with a tag number of 460HWX.
Anyone with information is urged to call Sherouse at (863) 534-5040.
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