11-year-old New Jersey girl escapes kidnapper by asking to use bathroom

An 11-year-old girl from New Jersey was able to escape from a kidnapping attempt last week after she asked the suspect to let her use the bathroom, a New Jersey prosecutor said. 

The 11-year-old girl was approached by 29-year-old Raquan M. Folk at around 5:30 p.m. in the Jersey Shore city of Asbury Park on May 30 while she was walking along Ridge Avenue. Folk somehow convinced the young girl to get into his white Kia, explained Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago. 

Folk drove about two miles before stopping in the Neptune Township, where he asked the girl to take off her clothes. The girl, sensing the danger she was in, told her kidnapper that she needed to use the bathroom. He obliged her request and took her to a nearby service station. 

The girl exited the car to supposedly use the restroom but instead was able to flee on foot and eventually “flagged down a passerby” who took her to the Neptune Township Police Department, according to Santiago.

Folk was arrested on Thursday and is being charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree luring of a child, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child via sexual conduct, the prosecutor's office said.

He faces up to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping charge alone. He is being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. His initial hearing will take place next Monday. 

It is unclear if Folk knew the girl before the incident. 

The incident is being investigated by the Asbury Park Police and the Special Victims Bureau of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.