WASHINGTON – Two teen brothers have been arrested on numerous juvenile citations after police say they kidnapped and threatened to burn two younger children who live in their Lothian, Maryland, neighborhood.
Anne Arundel County police say they don’t yet know why the 14-year-old boy and his 12-year-old brother forced an 8-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother away from the playground at Boones Estates to a nearby barn.
Children at the playground saw this happen on Sunday just after 3 p.m. and ran to get help, police say.
“Inside the barn, the suspects tied up the 8-year-old by her hands and her feet with some rope and were threatening to burn both victims as they pointed a knife at them,” says Lt. Ryan Frazier with Anne Arundel County Police.
The teens were tying up the boy when they heard the voices of neighbors searching for the missing children and ran, Frazier says.
The younger brother and sister were not hurt.
Detectives arrested the teen boys at their home after children at the playground and the two victims identified the brothers as the culprits. The children all lived in the same mobile home community.
“Detectives did locate an area in the barn where it looked like they dug a small hole, piled some leaves and attempted to start a fire there,” Frazier says.
The teens face juvenile citations of arson, kidnapping and assault among others.
